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TREATISE 



RIGHT USE OF THE FATHERS 



Derision of Conlroteb 

EXISTING AT THIS DAY IN RELIGION. 

By JOHiA)AILLE, 

MINISTER OF THE GOSPEL IN THE REFORMED CHURCH OF FARIS. 

t-r. 

WITH A 

PREFACE 

BY THE REV. G. JEKYLL, LL.B. 



SECOND AMERICAN EDITION, 

REVISED AND CORRECTED BY THE EDITOR OF THE BOARD. 



.OPYRIc>y; 



^AvuA 11) 



PHILADELPHIA f 

PRESBYTERIAN BOARD OF PUBLICATION, 
No. 265 Chestni i Street. /SJ/P 






Entered according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1856, by 

JAMES DUNLAP, Treas. 

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Eastern 
District of Pennsylvania. 



CONTENTS. 



PAGE 

Editor's Preface 9 

Preface by M. Daille 17 

Dedication 22 



BOOK I 



CHAPTER I. 

On the Difficulty of ascertaining the Opinions of the Fathers in 
reference to the present Controversies in Religion, deduced from 
the fact that there is very little of their Writings extant of the 
first three Centuries 25 



CHAPTER II. 

Those Writings which we have of the Fathers of the first Centuries, 
treat of matters far different from the present Controversies in 
Religion 32 



CHAPTER III. 

Those Writings which bear the names of the ancient Fathers, arc 
not all really such; but a great portion of them supposititious and 
forged, either long since or at later periods 3G 



(i CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER IV. 

The Writings of the Fathers, which are considered legitimate, have 
boon in many places corrupted by time, ignorance and fraud, 
pious and malicious, both in the early and later Ages 61 

CHAPTER V. 

The Writings of the Fathers are difficult to be understood, on ac- 
count of the Languages and Idioms in which they wrote, and the 
manner of their Writing, which is encumbered with rhetorical 
flourishes, and logical subtleties, and with terms used in a sense 
far different from what they now bear 101 

CHAPTER VI. 

The Fathers frequently conceal their own private Opinions, and 
say what they did not believe; either in reporting the Opinion 
of others, without naming them, as in their Commentaries ; or 
disputing against an Adversary, where they make use of what- 
ever they are able ; or accommodating themselves to their Audi- 
tory, as may be observed in their Homilies 136 

CHAPTER VII. 

The Fathers have not always held the same doctrine; but have 
changed some of their Opinions, according as their judgment 
has become matured "by study or age. » 156 

CHAPTER VIII. 

It is necessary, but nevertheless difficult, to discover how the 
Fathers held all their several Opinions ; whether as necessary, or 
as probable only ; and in what degree of necessity or probabil- 
ity 162 

CHAPTER IX. 

We ought to know what were the Opinions, not of one or more of 
tlir. Fathers, but of the whole ancient Church; which is a very 
difficult matter to discover 177 



CONTENTS. 7 

CHAPTER X. 

It is very difficult to ascertain whether the Opinions of the Fathers, 
as to the Controversies of the present day, were received by the 
Church Universal, or only by some portion of it; this being neces- 
sary to be known, before their sentiments can be adopted.. . 184 

CHAPTER XL 

It is impossible to know exactly what was the belief of the ancient 
Church, either Universal or Particular, as to any of those poinds 
which are at this day controverted amongst us 192 



BOOK IT. 

THE FATHERS ARE NOT OF SUFFICIENT AUTHORITY FOR DECIDING 
CONTROVERSIES IN RELIGION. 

CHAPTER I. 

The Testimonies given by the Fathers, on the Doctrines of the 
Church, are not always true and certain 206 

CHAPTER II. 

The Fathers testify themselves, that they are not to be believed 
absolutely, and upon their own bare Assertion, in what they 
declare in matters of Religion 216 

CHAPTER III. 

The Fathers have written in such a manner, as to make it clear 
that when they wrote they had no intention of being our author- 
ities in matters of Religion; as evinced by examples of their 
mistakes and oversights 247 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER IV. 

The Fathers have erred in divers points of Religion; not only 
singly, but also many of them together 270 

CHAPTER V. 

The Fathers have strongly contradicted one another, and have 
maintained different Opinions in matters of very great import- 
ance 327 

CHAPTER VI. 

Neither the Church of Rome nor the Protestants acknowledge the 
Fathers for their Judges in points of Religion; both of them 
rejecting such of their Opinions and Practices as are not suited 
to their taste; being an answer to two Objections that may be 
made against what is delivered in this Discourse 340 



PREFACE 

BY THE REV. G. JEKYLL, LL.B. 



"'The authority of the Fathers (says Bishop Warburton, 
in his Introduction to Julian,) had for many ages been 
esteemed sacred. These men, by taking the Greek Philo- 
sophers to their assistance, in explaining the nature and 
genius of the gospel, had unhappily turned religion into an 
art; and their successors the schoolmen, by framing a body 
of theology out of them, instead of searching for it in the 
Scriptures, soon after turned it into a trade. But (as in all 
affairs where reason does not hold the balance) that which 
had been extravagantly advanced, was, on the turn of the 
times, as extravagantly undervalued. It may not therefore 
be amiss to acquaint the English reader, in few words, how 
this came to pass. 

"When the avarice and ambition of the Romish clergy 
had, by working with the superstition and ignorance of the 
people, erected what they call their hierarchy, and digested 
an ecclesiastical policy on the ruins of gospel liberty, for 
the administration of it they found nothing of such use for 
the support of this lordly system, as the making the autho- 
2 



10 PREFACE. 

rity of the Fathers sacred and decisive. For having intro- 
duced numerous errors and superstitions, both in rites and 
doctrine, which the silence and the declarations of Scripture 
equally condemned, they were obliged to seal up those liv- 
ing oracles, and open this new warehouse of the dead. 
And it was no wonder if in that shoal of writers (as a poet 
of our own calls it) which the great drag-net of time hath 
inclosed, and brought down to us, under the name of Fathers, 
there should be some amongst them of a character suited to 
countenance any kind of folly or extravagance. The deci- 
sions of the Fathers, therefore, they thought fit to treat as 
laws, and to collect them into a kind of code, under the title 
of the Sentences. 

"From this time everything was tried at the bar of the 
Fathers; and so unquestioned was their jurisdiction, that 
when the great defection was made from the Church of 
Eome back again to the Church of Christ, the Reformed, 
though they shook off the tyranny of the Pope, could not 
disengage themselves from the unbounded authority of the 
Fathers; but carried that prejudice with them, as they did 
some others of a worse complexion, into the Protestant reli- 
gion. For in sacred matters, as novelty is suspicious, and 
antiquity venerable, they thought it for their credit to have 
the Fathers on their side. They seemed neither to consider 
antiquity in general as a thing relative, nor Christian anti- 
quity as a thing positive : either of which would have shown 
them that the Fathers themselves were modern, compared 
to that authority on which the Reformation was founded; 
and that the gospel was that true antiquity on which all its 
followers should repose themselves. The consequence of 
which unhappy error was, that, in the long appeal to reason, 
between Protestants and Papists, both of them going on a 
common principle, of the decisive authority of the Fathers, 



PREFACE. 11 

the latter were enabled to support their credit against all the 
evidence of common sense and sacred Scripture. 

"At length an excellent writer of the Reformed, observ- 
ing that the controversy was likely to be endless; for though 
the gross corruptions of Popery were certainly later than 
the third, fourth, and fifth centuries, to which the appeal 
was usually made, yet the seeds of them being then sown, 
and beginning to pullulate, it was but too plain there was 
hold enough for a skilful debater to draw the Fathers to his 
own side, and make them water the sprouts they had 
been planting : observing this, I say, he wisely projected to 
shift the ground, and force the disputants to vary their 
method, both of attack and defence. In. order to this he 
composed a discourse of the True Use of the Fathers; in 
which, with uncommon learning and strength of argument, 
he showed that the Fathers were incompetent deciders of 
the controversies now on foot; since the points in question 
were not formed into articles till long after the ages in 
which they lived. This was bringing the Fathers from the 
bench to the table; degrading them from the rank of 
judges into the class of simple evidence; in which, too, 
they were not to speak, like Irish evidence, in every cause 
where they were wanted, but only to such matters as were 
agreed to be within their knowledge. Had this learned 
critic stopped here, his book had been free from blame ; 
but at the same time his purpose had in all likelihood 
proved very ineffectual; for the obliquity of old prejudices is 
not to be set straight by reducing it to that line of right 
which barely restores it to integrity. He went much 
further; and by showing, occasionally, that they were 
absurd interpreters of holy writ ; that they were bad 
reasoners in morals, and very loose evidence in facts; he 
seemed willing to have his reader infer, that evegi though 



12 PREFACE. 

they had been masters of the subject, yet these other 
defects would have rendered them very unqualified de- 
ciders. 

k - However, the work of this famous foreigner had great 
consequences; and especially with us here at home. The 
more learned amongst the nobility (which, at that time, 
was of the republic of letters,) were the first who emanci- 
pated themselves from the general prejudice. It brought 
the excellent Lord Falkland to think moderately of the 
Fathers, and to turn his theological inquiries into a more 
useful channel; and his great rival in arts, the famous Lord 
Digby, found it of such use to him, in his defence of the 
Reformation against his cousin Sir Kenelm, that he has 
even epitomized it in his fine letter on that subject. But 
what it has chiefly to boast of is, that it gave birth to the 
two best defences ever written on the two subjects, religion 
and liberty: I mean Mr. C hilling worth' s Religion of Pro- 
testants, and Dr. Jer. Taylor's Liberty of Prophesying. In 
a word, it may be truly said to be the storehouse from 
w r hence all who have since written popularly on the charac- 
ter of the Fathers, have derived their materials." 

Deeply impressed with the sound views taken by the 
acute and learned bishop, and believing that this work may 
be very useful in this age of the Church, when the simple 
doctrines of our most holy religion bid fair to be made of 
none effect by tradition, the editor ventures to introduce it, 
in a corrected and amended state, to the notice of the 
public. 

Jean Daille, one of the most learned divines of the seven- 
teenth century, was born at Chatelleraut, in Poitou, January 
6th, 1594. Having been designed by his father, who was 
receiver of consignments at Poitiers, to succeed him in his 
business, his early education was neglected; but his natural 



PREFACE. 13 

thirst for learning could not be restrained, and at the age of 
eleven, he was sent to school to learn the first rudiments. 
Close application, assisted by a good understanding, soon 
enabled him to retrieve the lost time; and when only 
eighteen years of age he was received into the family of the 
illustrious M. Du Plessis Mornay, as tutor to his two grand- 
sons, whom he accompanied some years after in a tour to 
Italy. One of the brothers dying at Padua, he travelled 
with his remaining pupil through Switzerland, Germany, 
Flanders, and Holland ; and thence to England — returning 
to France about the end of the year 1621. He always in 
after life regretted the two years spent in travelling, which 
he reckoned almost as lost, because he might have spent 
them more usefully in his closet; the only advantage he 
received being the acquaintance of Father Paul at Venice, 
to whom he had been recommended by M. Du Plessis. He 
was called to the ministry in 1623, and officiated first in the 
house of his patron, at whose death, in the November of 
the same year, he was removed to the church of Saumur, 
and in 1626 to that of Paris. The remainder of his life 
was spent in the service of this last church. He died 1670, 
aged 77 years. 

Daille's early love of learning continued through life. 
We read of him, "that his books and studies were his chief 
recreation and delight. He rose very early, and by that 
means had five or six hours free from the common hurry 
of life which he could spend in his closet."* The daily 
husbanding of so many hours through a long life — and 
those hours devoted to reading and meditation — enabled 
him to acquire so extraordinary a stock of learning, that he 
was considered one of the best read men of his age. 

* Abrege" de la Vie de Daille. 
2* 



14 PREFACE. 

What is recorded of Pliny might be truly said of Daille 
— "he read nothing without making extracts, for he was 
wont to say, that no book was so bad, that he could not gain 
some profit from it." 

In 1631 he published his first work, "Du Vrai Emploi 
des Peres." This performance excited considerable atten- 
tion and controversy, and has generally been considered his 
master-piece. It contains a very strong chain of arguments, 
which form a moral demonstration against those who would 
have differences of religion to be decided by the authority 
of the Fathers.* 

An English translation of «this work appeared in 1651, 
which has usually been attributed to the learned Thomas 
Smith, M. A., Fellow of Christ's College, Cambridge; 
although from a remark which appears in the preface to that 
edition under the signature of T. S. " that he commended 
it to the world, as faithfully translated by a judicious hand," 
we might infer that the translation was merely submitted to 
his editorial revision ; or probably he undertook the transla- 
tion jointly with others. M. Mettayer however, who only 
four years after published a Latin translation of the work, 
says, in the dedication to Daille, that Smith himself was the 
translator of the English edition rf thus contradicting the 

* Encyclopaedia Britannica. 

f [Mettayer does not assert "that Smith himself was the trans- 
lator." His words are "Accept hoc ipsum opus ab ornatissimo viro 
Thos. Smith in Anglicum idioma translatum;" which amounts 
to nothing more than a mere hearsay. 

In a copy of the English edition of 1651, now in the Loganian 
Library in Philadelphia, a note on the title-page, in the hand- writing 
of the learned James Logan, says, "Translated (as some say) by Thos. 
Smith of Oxford ; but undoubtedly it was not he, though he seems 
to have signed the Preface "T. S."] — Editor of the Board of Publi- 
cation, 



PREFACE. 15 

assertion of Scrivener, " that Mr. Smith had told him that 
the translation was not made by himself, but by an Oxford 
man, and that he himself would have confuted the work if 
he had thought it worth the while."* Now, Smith, in his 
address to the reader, after introducing the recommendatory 
testimonies of Lord Falkland, Lord Digby, Bishop Jeremy 
Taylor, and others, says, " Et siquis cuculo locus inter 
oscines, I must ingenuously profess, that it was the reading 
of this rational book which first convinced me that my 
study in the French language was not ill employed." The 
truth is, that Scrivener wished to excite a prejudice 
against Daille's work, in answer to which he was writing 
his "Apology for the Fathers;" and in his Preface he made 
the above mentioned assertion of the English translation by 
Smith. Lord Clarendon however, in his answer to Cressy, 
shows what degree of credit is to be attached to the state- 
ments of Scrivener ; and the learned Du Moulin, in his 
u Patronus bonse fidei in causa Puritanorum contra Hierar- 
chos Anglos," inflicts a severe chastisement on Daille's 
semi-papistical opponent. 

It may here be observed, that although a simple reprint 
of this standard work would have been desirable, it has been 
thought advisable to alter and amend the translation, the 
language of which was frequently obscure, and had become 
too antiquated and obsolete for modern times. The notes 
have been re-arranged, and the typography modernized; so 
as to render the reading of the volume more pleasant and 
agreeable. 

The Editor thinks he shall be promoting the best inter- 
ests of the Church, by the republication of a work which 
did her good service when attacked by her enemies from 

* Scriveneri Apol. pro Sanctae Eccles. Fatribus. London, 1672. 



16 PREFACE. 

without, and which he believes to be eminently calculated 
to serve her now, when her foundations are being sapped by 
some of her sons from within. To conclude, in the words 
of Bishop Hurd, " May the eyes of the more candid and 
intelligent inquirers be opened, and the old principle be 
for ever established, that the Bible, and that only (inter- 
preted by our best reason) is the Religion of Protestants."* 

* Bishop Hurd on Proph. vol. ii. p. 217. 



J^* This edition has been carefully compared with the 
French original, and occasionally with the Latin translation, 
and several hundred errors, both typographical and editorial, 
have been corrected. — Editor of the Board of Publication. 



AUTHOR'S PREFACE. 



All the difference of religion, which is at this day between 
the Church of Rome and the Protestants, lies in some cer- 
tain points which the Church of Rome maintains as import- 
ant and necessary articles of the Christian faith : whereas 
the Protestants, on the contrary, neither believe nor will 
receive them as such. For as for those matters which the 
Protestants believe, which they conceive to be the funda- 
mentals of religion, they are evidently and undeniably such, 
that even their enemies admit and receive them as well as 
they: inasmuch as they are both clearly delivered in the 
Scriptures, and expressly admitted by the ancient councils 
and Fathers; and are indeed unanimously received by the 
greatest part of Christians in all ages, and in different parts 
of the world. Such, for example, are the maxims, "That 
there is a God who is supreme over all, and who created the 
heavens and the earth : — that he created man after his own 
image; and that this man, revolting from his obedience, is 
fallen, together with his whole posterity, into most extr 
and eternal misery, and become infected with sin, Bfi with 
a mortal leprosy, and is therefore obnoxious to the wrath of 
God, and liable to his curse: — thai the merciful Creator, 
pitying man's estate, graciously sent his Son Jesus Christ 
into the world: — that his Son La God eternal with him; and 
that having taken flesh upon himself in the womb of the 



18 author's preface. 

Virgin Mary, and become man, lie has done and suffered in 
this flesh all things necessary for our salvation, having by 
this means sufficiently expiated for our sins by his blood; 
and that having finished all this, he ascended again into 
heaven, and sitteth at the right hand of the Father ; from 
whence he shall one day come to judge all mankind, ren- 
dering to every one according to their works; — that to 
enable us to communicate of this salvation by his merits, 
he sends us down his Holy Spirit, proceeding both from the 
Father and the Son, and who is also one and the same God 
with them; so that these three persons are notwithstanding 
but one God, who is blessed for ever; — that this Spirit 
enlightens our understanding, and generates faith in us, 
whereby we are justified : — that after all this, the Lord sent 
his Apostles to preach this doctrine of salvation throughout 
the whole world : — that these have planted churches, and 
placed in each of them pastors and teachers, whom we are to 
hear with all reverence, and to receive from them Baptism, 
the sacrament of our regeneration, and the holy Eucharist, 
or Lord's Supper, which is the sacrament of our commu- 
nion with Jesus Christ: — that we are likewise all of us 
bound fervently to love God and our neighbour; observing 
diligently that holy doctrine which is laid down for us in 
the books of the New Testament, which have been inspired 
by his Spirit of truth; as also those other of the Old; there 
being nothing, either in the one or in the other, but what is 
most true. 

These articles, and there may be some few others of a 
similar nature, are the substance of the Protestant's whole 
belief: and if all other Christians would but content them- 
selves with these, there would never be any schism in the 
Church. But now their adversaries add to these many 
other points, which they press and command men to believe 
as necessary; and such as ; without believing in ; there is no 



author's preface. 19 

possible hope of salvation. As for example : that the Pope of 
Rome is the head and supreme monarch of the whole Chris- 
tian Church throughout the world: — that he, or at least the 
Church which he acknowledges a true one, cannot possibly 
err in matters of faith : — that the sacrament of the Eucha- 
rist is to be adored, as being really Jesus Christ, and not a 
piece of bread : — that the mass is a sacrifice, that really ex- 
piates the sins of the faithful : — that Christians may and 
ought to have in their churches the images of God and of 
saints, to which, bowing down before them, they are to use 
religious worship : — that it is lawful, and also vei'y useful, to 
pray to saints departed and to angels : — that our souls after 
death, before they enter into heaven, are to pass through a 
certain fire, and there to endure grievous torments;, thus 
making atonement for their sins : — that we neither may nor 
ought to receive the holy Eucharist, without having first 
confessed in private to a priest: that none but the priest 
himself that consecrated the Eucharist is bound by right to 
receive it in both kinds: — with a great number of other 
opinions, which their adversaries plainly protest that they 
cannot with a safe conscience believe. 

These points are the ground of the whole difference be- 
tween them ) the one party pretending that they have been 
believed and received by the Church of Christ in all ages as 
revealed by him; and the other maintaining the contrary. 

Now, seeing that none of these tenets have any ground 
from any passage in the New Testament, (which is the most 
ancient and authentic rule of Christianity) the maintainers 
are glad to fly to the writings of the doctors of the Church, 
who lived within the first four or five centuries after the 
Apostles, who are commonly called the Fathers: my pur- 
pose in this treatise is to examine whether or not this be 
good and sufficient means for the decision of these differ- 
ences. For this purpuse I must first presuppose two things, 



20 author's preface. 

which any reasonable person will easily grant me. The first 
is, that the question being here about laying a foundation for 
certain articles of faith, upon the testimonies or opinions of 
the Fathers, it is very necessary that the passages which are 
produced out of them be clear, and not to be doubted; that 
is to say, such as we cannot reasonably scruple at, either as 
regards the author, out of whom they are alleged ; or the 
sense of the place, whether it signify what is pretended. 
For a deposition of a witness, and the sentence of a judge, 
being of no value at all, save only for the reputation of the 
witness or judge, it is most evident, that if either proceed 
from persons unknown, or suspected, they are invalid, and 
prove nothing. In like manner, if the deposition of a wit- 
ness or sentence of a judge be obscure, and in doubtful 
terms, it is clear, that in this case the business must rest 
undecided; there being another doubt first to be cleared; 
namely, what the meaning of either of them was. 

The second point that I shall here lay down for a founda- 
tion to the ensuing discourse, is no less evident than the 
former : namely, that to allow a sufficiency to the writings 
of the Fathers for the deciding of those controversies, we 
must necessarily attribute to their persons very great autho- 
rity ; and such as may oblige us to follow their judgment in 
matters of religion. For if this authority be wanting, how- 
ever clear and express their opinions be, in the articles now 
controverted, it will do nothing towards their-decision. We 
have therefore here two things to examine in this business. 
The first is, whether or not we may be able to know, with 
certainty and clearness, what the opinion of the Fathers has 
been on the differences now in hand. The second, whether 
their authority be such, that every faithful person who shall 
clearly and certainly know what their opinion has been in 
any one article of Christian religion, is thereby bound to 
receive that article for true. For if the Church of Rome 



author's preface. 21 

be but able to prove both these points, it is then without 
all dispute that their proceeding is good, and agreeable to 

the end proposed ; there being so many writings of the 
ancient Fathers at this day adduced by them. But if, on 
the contrary, either of these two things, or both of them, be 
indeed found to be doubtful, I should think that any man, 
of a very mean judgment, should be able to conclude of 
himself, that this way of proof, which they have hitherto 
made use of, is very insufficient ; and that therefore they of 
necessity ought to have recourse to some other more proper 
and solid way of proving the truth of the said opinions, 
which the Protestants will not by any means receive. 



TO THE 

NOBLE LADY ANNE MORNAY, 

LADY OF TABARIEREj BARONESS OF ST. HERMINE 3 &C. 

Madam :— It is now nearly four years since your son, the 
late Baron of St. Hermine, acquainted me with what kind of 
discourse he was usually entertained at court by those who 
laboured to advance the Romish religion, or rather to excite 
his disgust against the Reformed; and told me that the 
chief argument which they urged against him was Antiquity, 
and the general consent of all the Fathers of the first ages of 
Christianity. Although he himself understood well enough 
the vanity of this argument of theirs, yet, notwithstanding, 
for his own fuller satisfaction, he requested that I would 
discover to him the very depth of this matter. This there- 
fore I did, as minutely as I possibly could, and gave him my 
judgment at large in this particular. This treatise of mine 
he was pleased so much to approve, that he conceived some 
hopes from thence, that it might also haply be of some use 
to others. 

Shortly afterwards I put pen to paper, and digested it 
into the treatise you now see. It having therefore been 
composed at first for his service, I had resolved also with 
myself to have dedicated it to his name ; purporting, by this 
small piece of service, to testify to the world the continua- 
tion of the affection I bare to his progress in piety. But 
that deadly blow which snatched him from us, in the flower 



DEDICATION. 23 

of his age, about two years since, at the famous Beige of 
h >isleduc, having left us nothing of him now, save only the 
Spoils of his mortality, ami the memory of his virtue, 

her with our great sorrow for having enjoyed him hero 
short a time, I am constrained, Madam, to change my 
former resolution. I shall therefore content myself with 
cherishing and preserving, whilst I live, the precious 
memory of his worth, the excellency of his wit, the sound- 
ness of his judgment, the sweetness of his nature, the fair- 
- of his carriage, and those other choice parts, wherewith 
he was accomplished ; but, above all, his singular piety, 
which clearly shone forth in his words and actions, till the 
hour of his death. 

As for this small treatise, Madam, which was at first con- 
ceived and composed for him, I thought I could not, with- 
out being guilty of a piece of injustice, present it to any 
other but yourself : seeing it has pleased God, notwithstand- 
ing the common order of nature, to make you heir to him to 
whom it belonged. This consideration only has emboldened 
me to present it to your hands; knowing that the nature of 
this discourse is not so suitable to that sorrow which has of 
late cast a cloud over your house; it having pleased God, 
after the death of the son, to deprive you of the father; and 
to the loss of your children, to add that also of your noble 

and. But my desire to avoid being unjust has forced 
me to be thus uncivilly troublesome: seeing I accounted it 
a kind of theft, should I have any longer withheld from you 
that which was your right, by this Bad title of inheritance. 
Be pleased, therefore. Madam, to receive this book as a pari 
of the g 1- of your deceased son; which I now honestly 

iv, in the view of the whole world, after concealment 
of it for some time in m;. This name, 1 know, will 

oblige yon to afford it Borne place in your oloset, which is 

all that 1 can at present desire. Tor Bfl lor the reading of 



24 DEDICATION. 

it, besides that your exquisite piety (which is built upon 
infinitely much firmer grounds than these disputes,) has no 
need at all of it ; I know also that your present condition is 
such, that it would be very troublesome to you. And if 
you shall chance to desire to spend some hours in the peru- 
sal of it, it must be hereafter, when the Lord, by the efficacy 
of his Spirit, shall have comforted yours, and shall have 
allayed the violence of your grief; to whom I pour out my 
most earnest prayers, that he would vouchsafe powerfully to 
effect the same, and to shed forth his most holy grace upon 
you and yours; and that he would by his great mercy pre- 
serve, long and happily, that which remains of that goodly 
and blessed family, which he has bestowed upon you. 

This, Madam, is one of the most hearty prayers of 

Your most humble 

And obedient servant, 

DAILLE. 

Paris, August 15, 163 1. 



ON THE 



EIGHT USE OF THE FATHERS. 



BOOK I. 



CHAPTER I. 

Reason I. — On the difficulty of ascertaining the opinions of the 
Fathers in reference to the present controversies in religion, 
deduced from the fact that there is very little of their writings 
extant of the first three centuries. 

If we should here follow the same course of argu- 
ment which some writers of the Church of Rome 
pursue against the Holy Scriptures, it would be very 
easy to bring in question, and render very doubtful 
and suspected, all the writings of the Fathers; for when 
the Old or New Testament is quoted, these gentlemen 
instantly demand, how or by what means we know 
that any such books were really written by those Pro- 
phets and Apostles whose names they bear ? If there- 
fore, in like manner, when these men adduce Justin, 
Irenaeus, Ambrose, Augustine, and others, we should 
at once demand of them, how and by what means we 
are assured that these Fathers were the authors of 
those writings which at this day bear their names, 
there is little doubt but that they would find a harder 
task of it than their adversaries would, in justifying 
the writings of the sacred volume; the truth whereof 
is much more easy to be demonstrated than of any 
3* 



26 WRITINGS OF THE FATHERS 

human writings whatsoever. But I shall pass by 
this too artificial way of proceeding, and only say, 
that it is not very easy to find out, by the writings of 
the Fathers, what has really been their opinion, in any 
of those controversies which are now in dispute be- 
tween the Protestants and the Church of Rome. The 
considerations, which render the knowledge of this so 
difficult, are many; I shall therefore, in this first 
Part, discuss some of them only, referring the rest 
to the second Part, examining them one after ano- 
ther. 

The first reason, therefore, which I shall lay down 
for the proving of this difficulty, is the little we have 
extant of the writings of the ancient Fathers, especi- 
ally of the first, second, and third centuries ; which are 
those we are most especially to regard. For, seeing 
that one of the principal reasons that moves the Church 
of Rome to adduce the writings of the Fathers, is to 
show the truth of their tenets by their antiquity, which 
they consider as indicative of it ; it is evident that the 
most ancient ought to be the most noticed. And 
indeed there is no question but that the Christian 
religion was more pure and without mixture in its 
beginning and infancy, than it was afterwards in its 
growth and progress: it being the ordinary course of 
things to contract corruptions, more or less, according 
as they are more or less removed from their first 
institution : as we see by experience in states, laws, 
arts, and languages, the natural propriety of all which 
is continually declining, after they have once passed 
the point of their vigour, and as it were the flower 
and prime of their strength and perfection. Now, I 
cannot believe that any faithful Christian will deny 
but that Christianity was in its zenith and perfection 
at the time of the blessed Apostles ; and indeed it 
would be the greatest injury that could be offered 
them, to say that any of their successors have either 
had a greater desire or more abilities to advance 



OF THE FIRST THREE CENTURIES. 27 

Christianity than they had. It will hence follow then, 
that those times which were nearest to the Apostles 
were necessarily the purest, and less subject to suspi- 
cion of corruption, either in doctrine, or in manners 
and Christian discipline: it being but reasonable to 
believe, that if any corruptions have crept into the 
Church, they came in by little and little, and by 
degrees, as it happens in all other things. Some may 
here object, that even the very next age, immediately 
after the times of the Apostles, was not without its 
errors, if we may believe Hegesippus; who, as he is 
cited by Eusebius, witnesses, that the Church contin- 
ued a virgin till the emperor Trajan's time; but that 
after the death of the Apostles the conspiracy of error 
began to discover itself with open face. c i?c dpa 

' h Titiv rove ypovitiv napdevo<z xaOapa xcu ddtatpdopos 
ifMSiueh '/] ixxfojata, *Scc. d>^ o' 6 leoo^ zwu dtJCoavoXant 
'/>>;><>: deeupopov eifaj<pee to'j fio'j reAoc, napefajkoOet 
r£ i l yevea ixeewj rcov abzaus dxocuc rape ivOeou 
eoififj^ InaxooaajL xarq^iwpzviov, T7)vex<mza ztjs adeou 
nXaanjQ njv (l f r ///^ iXafifiauev q ooazamz dea nj{ zcov 
hrspodedaaxcdwi datazr]$, ol xcu S.ze pqdevoG ize rcov 
dttOGTolcw keeno/ievoU) yupvj) Xotnov 9/Stj zrj xetpaXifj 
zw rye dty&&a£ x^puy/iazc rqv ipeodcwopov yvwocv 
dirrczypwreep e7te%eipouv.* 

I shall not oppose anything against this testimony, 
but shall only say, that if the enemy, immediately 
upon the setting of these stars of the Church, their 
presence and light being scarcely shut in, had yet the 
boldness presently to fall to sowing his evil seed; how 
much more had lie the opportunity of doing this in 

* "The Church continued until then as a pore and uncorrupt 
n; -• * * but when the sacred choir of apostles bee 
ind the generation of those that had been priyilege I 

lorn, had passed away, then also the com- 

the fraud and delu 
dso, as there iras aone of the Left, 

• i attempted, without shame, to preach t 1 doc- 

trine against the gospel of truth. "' — Euseb. Hist. Ecclet. lib. 3. 
cap. 32. 



28 WRITINGS OF THE FATHERS 

those ages which were further removed from their 
times ; when (the sanctity and simplicity of these 
great teachers of the world, having now by little and 
little vanished out of the memories of men) human 
inventions and new fancies began to take place? So 
that we may conclude that even supposing the first 
ages of Christianity have not been altogether exempt 
from alteration in doctrine, yet are they much more 
free from it than the succeeding ages can pretend to 
be, and are therefore consequently to be preferred to 
them in all respects ; it being here something like 
what the poets have fancied of the four ages of the 
world, where the succeeding age always came short of 
the former. As for the opinion of those men* who 
think the best way to find out the true sense of the 
ancient Church, will be to search the writings of those 
of the Fathers chiefly who lived between the time of 
Constantine the Great and Pope Leo, or Pope Gre- 
gory's time, (that is to say, from the end of- the third 
century to the beginning of the seventh,) I consider 
this as an admission only of the small number of 
books that are left us of those ages before Constantine, 
and not that these men allow that the authority of 
these three later ages ought to be preferred to that 
of the three former. 

If w r e had but as much light and as clear evidences 
of the belief of the one as we have of the other, I 
make no question but they would prefer the former. 
But if they mean otherwise, and are indeed of a per- 
suasion that the Church was really more pure after 
Constantine's time than before, they must excuse me, 
if I think that they by this means confess the dis- 
trust they have of their own cause, seeing that they 
endeavour to fly as far as they can from the light of 
the primitive times; retreating to those ages, wherein 
it is most evident there were both less perfection and 
light than before; running altogether contrary to that 

* Cassand. Consult. Ferdinan. p. 894. Perron. Epist. to Casaub. 



OF THE FIRST THREE CENTURIES. "20 

excellent rule which Cyprian has given us:* That \vc 
should have recourse to the fountain, whenever the 
channel and stream of doctrine and ecclesiastical tra- 
dition are found to be the least corrupted. But, how- 
ever, let their meaning be what it will, their words, 
in my judgment, do not a little advance the Protes- 
tants' cause; it being a very clear confession that 
those opinions, about which they contest with them, do 
not at all appear clearly in any of the books that were 
written during the first three centuries. For if they 
were found clearly in the same, what policy were it 
then in them to appeal to the writers of the three fol- 
lowing centuries, to which they very well know that 
their adversaries attribute less than to the former? 
But beside this tacit confession of theirs the thing is 
evident; namely, that there is left us at this day very 
little of the writing of the Fathers of the first three 
centuries of Christianity, for the deciding of our dif- 
ferences. 

The blessed Christians of those times contented 
themselves, for the greatest part, with writing the 
Christian faith in the hearts of men, by the beams of 
their sanctity and holy life, and by the blood shed in 
martyrdom, without much troubling themselves with 
the writing of books; whether it were because, as the 
learned Origenf elegantly gives the reason, they were 
of opinion that the Christian religion w T as to be de- 
fended by innocency of life and honesty of con- 
versation, rather than by sophistry and the artifice of 
words: or whether, because their continual sufferings 
gave them not leisure to take pen in hand and to write 
books; or else, whether it were for some other reason 
perhaps, which we know not. But of this we are very 
well assured, that, except the writings of the Apostles, 
there was very little written by others in these primi- 
tive times; and this was the cause of so much trouble 

ypr. op. 74. p. 

f Orig. Pncf. I 



30 WRITINGS OF THE FATHERS 

to Eusebius in the beginning of his history, who had 
little or no light to guide him in his undertaking; 
treading, as he saith, Ola rcva ipyfiyv xac dzpc^rj hvac 
bdov iYXsepoujuev; "in a new path, unbeaten by any 
that had gone before him."* 

Besides, the greatest part of those few books which 
were written by the Christians of those times, have 
not come down to our hands, but were lost, either 
through the injury of time, that consumes all things; 
or else have been destroyed by the malice of men, 
who have made bold to suppress whatsoever they met 
with that was not altogether to their taste. Of this 
sort were those five books of Papias bishop of Hiera- 
polis, the apology of Quadratus Atheniensis, and that 
other of Aristides, the writings of Castor Agrippa 
against the twenty-four books of the heretic Basilides, 
the five books of Hegesippus, the works of Melito 
bishop of Sardis, Dionysius bishop of Corinth, Apolli- 
naris bishop of Hierapolis, the epistle of Pinytus Cre- 
tensis, the writings of Philippus, Musanus, Modestus, 
Bardesanes, Pantaenus, Bhodon, Miltiades, Apolloni- 
us, Serafiion, Bacchylus, Polycrates bishop of Ephe- 
sus, Heraclius, Maximus, Hammonius, Tryphon, Hip- 
polytus, Julius Africanus, Dionysius Alexandrinus, 
and others ; of whom we have nothing left but their 
names and the titles of their books, which are pre- 
served in the works of Eusebius, Jerome, and others, f 
All that we have left us of these times, which is cer- 
tainly known to be theirs, and of which no man doubts, 
are some certain discourses of Justin, the philosopher 
and martyr, who wrote his second apology a hundred 
and fifty years after the nativity of our Saviour 
Christ; the five books of Irenseus, who wrote not long 
after him; three excellent and learned pieces of Cle- 
mens Alexandrinus, who lived towards the end of the 

* Euseb. Hist. Eccles. 1. 1. c. 1. 

f Hieron, 1. de Scrip tor, &c. Euseb. in Hist, passim. Tertul. 
aliquorum meminit. 



OF THE FIRST THREE CENTURIES. 31 

second century; divers books of Tertullian, who was 
famous about the same time; the epistles and other 
treatises of Cyprian bishop of Carthage, who suffered 
martyrdom about the year of our Saviour 2G1 ; the 
writings of Arnobius, and of Lactantius his scholar, 
and some few others. As for Origen, Cyprian's con- 
temporary — who alone, had we but all his writings 
entire, would be able perhaps to give us more light 
and satisfaction in the business we are now engaged in 
than all the rest — we have but very little of him left, 
and the greatest part of that too most miserably 
abused and corrupted; the most learned and almost 
innumerable writings of this great and incomparable 
person not being able to withstand the ravages of 
time, nor the envy and malice of men, who have dealt 
much worse with him, than so many ages and cen- 
turies of years that have passed from his time down 
to us. 

Thus have I. given you an account of well nigh all 
that we have left us, which is certainly known to have 
been written by the Fathers of the first three centu- 
ries. For as for those other pieces, which are pre- 
tended to have been written in the same times, but 
are indeed either confessed to be supposititious by the 
Romanists themselves, or are rejected by their adver- 
saries, and that upon very good and probable grounds: 
these cannot have any place or account here, in eluci- 
dating the controversy we have now in hand. 

The writings of the fourth and fifth centuries have, 
I confess, surpassed the former in number and good 
fortune too; the greatest part of them haying been 
transmitted safely to our hands; but they come much 
short of the other in weight and authority, especially 
in the judgment of the Prot< - who maintain, 

arid that upon very probable grounds, that the { ' ] 
tian religion has from the beginning had its declinii 
by little and little, losing in everj tain 

degree of its primitive and native purity. And be- 



32 WRITINGS OF THE FATHERS 

sides, we have good reason perhaps to fear lest the 
number of writers of these two ages trouble us as 
much as the paucity of them in the three preceding: 
and that, as before we suffered under scarcity, we 
now may be overwhelmed by their multitude. For 
the number of words and of books serves as much 
sometimes to the suppressing of the sense and opinion 
of any public body, as silence itself; our minds being 
then extremely confounded and perplexed, while it 
labours to comprehend what is the true and common 
opinion of the whole, amidst so many differently 
biassed details, whereof each endeavours to express 
the same; it being most certain, that amongst so great 
and almost infinite variety of spirits and tongues, you 
shall hardly ever meet with two persons that shall 
deliver to you one and the same opinion, (especially 
in matters of so high a nature as the controversies in 
religion,) after the same form and way of representa- 
tion, how unanimous soever their consent may other- 
wise be in the same opinion. And this variety, 
although it be but in the circumstances of the thing, 
makes, notwithstanding, the foundation itself also ap- 
pear different. 



CHAPTER II. 

Reason II. — Those writings which we have of the Fathers of the 
first centuries, treat of matters far different from the present 
controversies in religion. 

But suppose that neither the want of books in the 
first three centuries, nor yet the abundance of them 
in the three following, should produce these inconve- 
niences; it will nevertheless be very hard to discover 
from them what the opinion of their authors has been 
concerning those points of the Christian religion now 
controverted. For the matters whereof they treat are 



OF THE FIRST THREE CENTURIES. 33 

of a very different nature: these authors, according as 
the necessity of the times required, employing them- 
selves either in justifying the Christian religion, and 
vindicating it from the aspersion of such crimes, where- 
with it was most falsely and injuriously charged; or 
else in laving open to the world the absurdity and im- 
piety of Paganism; or in convincing the hard-hearted 
Jews, or in confuting the prodigious fooleries of the 
heretics of those times; or in exhortations to the 
faithful to patience and martyrdom; or in expounding 
some certain passages and portions of the Holy Scrip- 
ture: all which things have very little concern with 
the controversies of these times ; of which they never 
speak a syllable, unless they accidentally or by chance 
let a word drop from them toward this side or that 
side, yet without the least thought of us or of our con- 
troversies; although both the one and the other party 
sometimes light upon passages, wdierein they conceive 
they have discovered their own opinions clearly de- 
livered, though in vain for the most part, and with- 
out ground: precisely as he did, who on hearing the 
ringing of bells, thought they perfectly sounded out 
what he in his own thoughts had fancied. Justin 
Martyr and Tertullian, Theophilus and L^ctantius, 
Clemens and Arnobius, show the heathen the vain- 
ss of their religion, and of their gods; and that 
Jupiter and Juno were but mortals, and that there is 
but one only God, the Creator of heaven and earth. 
Irenseus bends his whole forcas against the monstrous 
opinions of Basilides, the Yalentinians, and other 
Gnostics, who were the inventors of the most chimeri- 
cal divinity that ever came into the fancy of man. 
Tertullian also lashes them, as they well deserve; but 
1. especially takes Marcion, llermogenes, Apclles, 
Pra i I others to task, who maintained that th 

were f p two principles, and confounded 

- of the Father and the Son. Cyprian is 
wholly upon the discipline and the virtues of the 
4 



34 WRITINGS OF THE FATHERS 

Christian Church. Arius, Macedonius, Eunomius, 
Photinus, Pelagius, and afterwards Nestorius and 
Eutyches, made work for the Fathers of the fourth 
and fifth centuries. 

The blasphemies of these men against the person 
or the natures of our Saviour Christ, or against the 
Holy Ghost and his grape, which have now of a long 
time lain buried and forgotten, were the matters con- 
troverted in those times, and the subject of the great- 
est part of the books then written, that have come to 
our hands. What relation has anything of all this to 
the doctrines of transubstantiation, and the adoration 
of the eucharist, or the monarchy of the Pope, or the 
necessity of auricular confession, or the worshipping 
of images, and similar points, which are those of the 
present controversies, and which none of the ancients 
have treated expressly and by design, or perhaps ever 
so much as thought of? It is very true indeed, that 
the silence of these Fathers on these points, which 
some set so much value by, is not wholly mute,, and 
perhaps also it may pass for a very clear testimony, 
but certainly not on their side who maintain them 
affirmatively. But, however, this is a most certain 
truth, that throughout the whole body of the genuine 
writings of these Fathers, you shall not meet with 
anything expressly urged either for or against the 
greatest part of these opinions. I shall most willingly 
confess, that the belief of every wise man makes up 
but one entire body, th$ parts whereof have a certain 
correspondence and relation to each other, to such a 
degree that a man may be able by those things which 
he delivers expressly, to give a guess what his opinion 
is concerning other things of which he says nothing; 
it being utterly improbable that he should maintain 
any position which shall manifestly clash with his 
other tenets, or that he should reject anything that 
necessarily follows upon them. But, besides, this 
manner of disputation presupposes that the belief of 



OF THE FIRST THREE CENTURIES. 

the ancient Fathers is uniform, no one position con- 
tradicting another, but having all its parts united, and 
depending one upon another, which indeed is very 
questionable, as we shall show elsewhere. Besides all 
this, I say it requires a quick discernment, which 
readily and clearly apprehends the connections of 
each distinct point, an excellent memory to retain 
faithfully whatever positions the ancients have main- 
tained, and a solid judgment free from all prc-occu- 
pation, to compare them with the tenets maintained 
at this day. And the man who is endued with all 
those qualities I shall account the fittest to make pro- 
fitable use of the writings of the Fathers, and the like- 
liest of any to search deeply into them. But the mis- 
chief is, that men so qualified are very rare and diffi- 
cult to be found. 

I shall add here, that if you will believe certain 
writers of the Church of Rome,* this method is vain 
ai«d useless, as is also that which makes use of argu- 
mentation and reason; means which are insufficient, 
and unable (in the judgment of these doctors) to 
arrive at any certainty, especially in matters of relig- 
ion. Their opinion is, that we are to rely upon clear 
and express texts only. Thus, according to this ac- 
count, we shall not, if we be wise, believe that the 
Fathers held any of the aforenamed points, unless we 
can find them in express terms in their writings; that 
is to say, in the very same terms that we read them 
in tip,' decrees and canons of the Council of Trent. 
Seeing then that, according to the opinion of th< 

i, those testimonies only are to be received which 
are i , and likewise that of these points now con- 

troverted th - •arccly any thing found expressly 

delivered by the Fathers, we may, in my (.pinion, 
logically and reasonably conclude, tl - at 

icult if not impossible thing ling 

. aii'l tali 



36 SUPPOSITITIOUS WRITINGS 

to these men) to come to the certain knowledge of the 
opinion of the ancients concerning the greatest part of 
the tenets of the Church of Rome, which are at this 
day rejected by the Protestants. 



CHAPTER III. 

Reason III. — Those writings which bear the names of the ancient 
Fathers, are not all really such; but a great portion of them 
supposititious, and forged, either long since or at later periods. 

I NOW enter upon more important considerations; 
the two former, though they are not in themselves to 
be despised or neglected, being yet but trivial ones 
compared with those which follow. For there is so 
great a confusion in the most part of these books of 
which we speak, that it is a very difficult thing truly 
to discover who were their authors, and what is their 
meaning and sense. The first difficulty proceeds from 
the infinite number of forged books, which are falsely 
attributed to the ancient Fathers ; the same having 
also happened in all kinds of learning and sciences; 
insomuch that the learned at this day are sufficiently 
puzzled to discover, both in philosophy and humanity, 
which are forged and supposititious pieces, and which 
are true and legitimate. But this abuse has not ex- 
isted anywhere more grossly, and taken to itself more 
liberty, than in the ecclesiastical writers. All men 
complain of this, both on the one side and on the other, 
and labour to their utmost to deliver us from this con- 
fusion, oftentimes with little success, by reason of the 
warmth of their feelings by which they are carried 
away; ordinarily judging of books according to their 
own interest rather than the truth, and rejecting all 
those that any way contradict them, but defending 
those which speak on their side; how good or bad 



ATTRIBUTED TO THE FATHERS, 37 

ver they otherwise chance to be. So that, to 
the truth, they judge not of their own opinions by the 
writings of the Fathers, but of the writings of the 
Fathers by their own opinions. If they speak with 

us, it is then Cyprian and Ohrysostom ; if not, it is some 
rant modern fellow, or else some malicious person, 

who would fain cover his own impurity under the rich 
garment of these excellent persons. 

Now, were it mere partiality that rendered the bus- 
iness obscure, we should be able to quit our hands of 
it, by stripping it and laying it open to the world; and 
all moderate men would find enough to rest satisfied 
with. But the worst of it is, that this obscurity often- 
times happens to be in the things themselves; so that 
it is a very difficult and sometimes impossible thing to 
elucidate them, whether it be by reason of the anti- 
quity of the error, or by reason of the near resem- 
blance of the false to the true. For these forger 
are not new, and of yesterday ; but the abuse has 
isted above fourteen hundred years. It is the com- 
plaint of the greatest part of the Fathers, that the 
heretics, to give their own dreams the greater autho- 
rity, promulgated them under the names of some of 
the most eminent writers in the Church, and even of 
the Apostles themselves.* Amphilochius, bishop of 
1 • ilium, who was so much esteemed by the great 
Basil, archbishop of Cassarea, wrote a particular tract 
on this subject,! alleged by the Fathers of the seventh 
dost a certain produced by the 

Ico: out of I know not what idle treati 

titled, "The Travels of the Apostles." A uld 

that that tract of this L-.irin d prelate were I 

! If it were, it would perhaps do • 
iii discovering tic; vanity of many ridicul 
which now pass current in the world under the names 

II I Bnseb. 1 



38 SUPPOSITITIOUS WRITINGS 

of the primitive and most ancient Christians. Jerome 
rejects divers apocryphal books,* which are published 
under the names of the Apostles, and of their first 
disciples; as those of St. Peter, of Barnabas, and 
the others. The gospel of St. Thomas, and the epis- 
tle to the Laodiceans, are classed in the same category 
by the seventh council. f 

Now, if these knaves have thus taken such liberty 
with the Apostles as to make use of their names, how 
much more likely is it, that they would not hesitate 
to make as free with the Fathers? And indeed this 
kind of imposture has always been common. Thus 
we read that the Nestorians sometime published an 
epistle under the name of Cyril of Alexandria,;]; in 
the defence of Theodorus, bishop of Mopsuestia, who 
was the author and first broacher of their heresy : and 
likewise that the Eutychists also circulated certain 
books of Apollinaris, under the title of "The Ortho- 
dox Doctors/' namely, to impose on the simplicity of 
the people. § Leontius has written an express tract 
on this subject ;|| wherein he shows that these men 
abused particularly the names of Gregory of Neocse- 
sarea, of Julius bishop of Rome, and of Athanasius 
bishop of Alexandria; and he also says particularly, 
that the book entitled, C H xara juepo^ IIccftcq (A parti- 
cular Exposition of the Faith,) which is delivered to us 
by Turrianus the Jesuit, Gerardus Vossius, and the 
last edition of Gregorius Neocaesariensis, for a true 
and legitimate piece of the said Gregory^ is not truly 
his, but the bastard issue of the heretic Apollinaris. 
The like judgment do the publishers of the Bibliothe- 
ca Patrum give of the twelve Anathemas, which are 

* Hier. 1. de Script. Eccles. torn. 1. p. 346, et 350. 
f Concil. 7. Act. 6. % Concil. 5. Collat. 5. 

\ Marian, ep. ad Mon. Alex, ad calcem Concil. Chalc. t. 2. p. 
450. E. 

|| Leont. lib. extat Bibl. SS. PP. t. 4. par. 2. 

\ Greg. Tha Aat. op. Par. an. 1622, p. 97. ubi vide Voss. 



ATTRIBUTED TO THK FATHERS, S9 

commonly attributed to the Bame Gregory** The 

Monothc'lites also, taking the same course, forged an 
oration under the name of Menas, patriarch of ( 1 <>n- 
stantinople, and directed to Vigilius, bishop of Rome :f 
and two other books under the name of the same Vio- 
lins, directed to Justinian and Theodora j wherein their 
heresy is in express terms delivered; and these three 
pieces were afterwards inserted in the body of the fifth 
council, and kept in the library of the Patriarch's pal- 
ace in Constantinople.^ But this imposture was dis- 
covered and proved in the sixth council: for otherwi 
who would not have been deceived by it, seeing these 
false pieces in so authentic a copy? 

I bring but these few examples, to give the reader 
a sample only of what the heretics not only dared hut 
were able also to do in this particular: and all th< 
things were done before the end of the seventh cen- 
tury, that is to say, above nine hundred years a. 
Since which time, in all the disputes about the imaj 
in churches, § and in the differences betwixt the Greek 
and Latin churches, and indeed in the most part of 
all other ecclesiastical disputations, you shall find 
nothing more frequent than the mutual reproac 
that the several parties cast at each other,|| accusi 
one another of forging the pieces of authors which 
they produced each of them in defence of their <>wn 
cause. Judge you, therefore, whether or not the h( 
fclCB, u-ing the same artifice and the same diligei 
now for the space of so many centuries though 

in different causes, may not in all probability ha?e 
furnished us with a sufficient number of Bpuri 
piecee published under the names of the ancient 
Fathers by their professed enemies. And only con- 

* Bibl. 8S. PP. t. 1. Q 

: . Let 6. B • ■ I 

• i. 



40 SUPPOSITITIOUS WRITINGS 

sider whether or no we may not chance to commune 
with a heretic sometimes, when we think we have a 
Father before us; and a professed enemy disguised 
under the mask of a friend. Thus it will hence follow 
that it may justly be feared, that we sometimes re- 
ceive and deliver for maxims and opinions of the 
ancient Church, no better than the mere dreams of the 
ancient heretics. For we must suppose that they 
were not so foolish as to discover their venom at the 
first, in their heretical writings; but rather that they 
only cunningly infused here and there some sprink- 
lings of it, laying the foundation of their heresy as it 
w T ere a far off only; which makes the knavery the 
more difficult to be discovered, and consequently the 
more dangerous. But supposing that this juggling 
deception of the heretics may have very much cor- 
rupted the old books; yet notwithstanding, had we no 
other spurious pieces than what had been forged by 
the in, it would be no very hard matter to distinguish the 
true from the false. But that which renders the evil 
almost irremediable is, that even in the Church itself 
this kind of forgery has both been very common and 
very ancient. 

I impute a great part of the cause of this mischief 
to those men who, before the invention of printing, 
were the transcribers and copiers of manuscripts: of 
whose negligence and boldness, in the corrupting of 
books, Jerome very much complained even in his time: 
"Scribunt non quod inveniunt, sed quod intelligunt; 
et dum alienos errores emendare nituntur, ostendunt 
suos;"* that is, "they write not what they find but 
what they understand: and whilst they endeavour to 
correct other men's errors they show their own." 

We may very well presume, that the liberty these 
men took in corrupting, they also took the same in 
forging, books: especially since this last course was 
beneficial to them, while the other was not. For, by 

* Hier. Ep. 28. ad Lucin. torn. 1. 



ATTRIBUTED TO THE FATHERS, 41 

altering or corrupting the books they wrote, they 
could not make any advantage to themselves: where- 
in forging new hooks, and disposing of them under 

great and eminent names, they Bold them more readily 
and dearer. So likewise, if there came to their hai 

any book that either had no author's name: or having 
any, it was but an obscure or a tainted one; to the 
end that these evil marks might not prejudice the sel- 
ling of it, they would erase it without any more ado, 
and inscribe it with some one of the most eminent and 
venerable names in the Church; that thus the reputa- 
tion and favour, which that name had found in the 
world, might be a means for better passing off their 
false wares. As for example, the name of Novatianus, 
who was the head of a schism against the Roman 
Church, became justly odious to Christian ears: as 
that of Tertullian was the more esteemed, both for the 
age, wit, and learning of the person. Now the tran- 
scriber, considering this, without any other design or 
end than that of his own private gain, has, in my 
judgment, made an exchange, attributing to Tertul- 
lian that book of the Trinity which is in reality the 
production of Novatianus; as w r e are also given to un- 
derstand by Jerome.* And I am of opinion, that 
both the birth and fortune of that other piece, u JL)e 
Poenitentia," have been, if not the very same, yet at 

it not much unlike that of the other. So liken 
the book, entitled "De Operibus Cardinalibua Chris- 
ti,"f (which was composed and sent by its author to 
one of the Popes, without giving his name, aa ho there 

bifies,) has been circulated abroad under the name 
, of Cyprian, merely because by this i r waa 

more profitable to the manuscript-monger ; and 
always passed, and doe- {"or hi-: notwithstand- 

ing that, in my judgment, it is clear enough that it 

* ffier. Apol. - Etaff. 

p. 111. 



42 SUPPOSITITIOUS WRITINGS 

cannot be his, as is ingenuously confessed by many of 
the learned of both parties.* Ruffinus had some 
name in the Church, though nothing near so great as 
Cyprian had : and this is the reason why the afore- 
named merchants have inscribed with Cyprian's name 
that treatise upon the Apostles' Creed, which was 
written by Ruffinus. 

Besides the avarice of these Librarii, their own 
ignorance, or at least of those whom they consulted, 
has in like manner produced no small number of these 
spurious pieces. For when either the likeness of the 
name, or of the style, or of the subject treated of, or 
any other seeming reason, gave them occasion to be- 
lieve that such an anonymous book was the work of 
such or such an ancient author, they presently copied 
it out, under the said author's name; and thus it came 
from thenceforth to be received by the world for such, 
and by them to be transmitted for such to posterity. 

All the blame, however, is not to be laid upon the 
transcribers only in this particular : the authors them- 
selves have contributed very much to the promoting 
of this kind of imposture ; for there have been found 
in all ages some so sottishly ambitious, and so desi- 
rous, at any rate, to have their conceptions published 
to the world, that, finding they should never be able 
to please, and get applause abroad of themselves, they 
have issued them under the name of some of the 
Fathers; choosing rather to see them received and 
honoured under this false guise, than disguised and 
slighted under their own real name. These men, 
according as their several abilities have been, have 
imitated the style and sentiments of the Fathers either 
more or less happily; and have boldly presented these 
productions of their own brain to the world under 

* Erasmus in edit. Cyp. sua. Sixtus Senens. Biblioth. 1. 4. Bellar. 
do Euciiar. 1. 2. c'9. De amiss, grat. 1. 6. c. 2. Possevin. in Ap- 
parat. Scult. Medulla Patr. Andr. Rivet. 1. 2. c. 15. Crit. Sacr. 
Aubert de Euchar. 1. 2. ch. 8. 



ATTRIBUTED TO THE PATH] 41 

their names. The world, of which the greatest part 

has always been the least reflecting, lias very readily 
collected, preserved, and cherished those fictiti 

productions, and has by degrees Idled all tlieir libra- 
ries with them. Others have been induced to adopt 
the same artifice, not out of ambition, but some Other 
irregular fancy; as those men have done, who, having 
had a particular affection, either to such a person, or 
to such an opinion, have undertaken to write of the 
Same, under the name of some author of good esteem 
and reputation with the world, to make it pass the 
more currently abroad: precisely as that priest did, 
who published a book, entitled "The Acts of St. Paul, 
and of Tecla;"* and being convicted of being the 
author of it, in presence of the Apostle John, lie 
plainly confessed, that the love that he bare to Paul 
was the only cause that incited him to do it. Such 
was the boldness also of Ruffinus, a priest of Aquil 
(whom Jerome justly reprehends so sharply, and in 
so many places,!) who, to vindicate Origen's honour, 
wrote an apology for him, under the name of Pa 
philus, a holy and renowned martyr; although the 
truth of it is, he had taken it partly out of the first 
and sixth books that Eusebius had written upon the 
same subject, and partly made use of his own inven- 
tion in it. Some similar fancy it was that moved him 
also to put forth the life of one Sextus, a Pythagorean 
philosopher, under the name of St. Sixtus the mar- 
tyr,J to the end that the work might be received the 
more favourably. What can you Bay to this J name- 
ly, that in the very same age there was a person 
of greater note than the former; who, disliking that 
Jerome had translated the Old Testament out of the 

* i : tnl. lib. d< . 

. 1 7. 
f Hier. 1. 2. ! tr. Boffin, torn. 2. | L 2. 

ct kpol. contr. Ruff. ad. Pammac 



44 SUPPOSITITIOUS WRITINGS 

Hebrew, framed an epistle under his name, wherein 
he represents him as repenting of having done it; 
which epistle, even in Jerome's lifetime, though 
without his knowledge, was published by the said 
author, both at Rome and in Africa? Who could 
believe the truth of this bold attempt, had not Jerome 
himself related the story, and made complaint of the 
injury done him therein?* I must impute also to a 
fancy of the same kind, though certainly more inno- 
cent than the other, the spreading abroad of so many 
predictions of our Saviour Jesus Christ, and his king- 
dom, under the names of the Sibyls ; which was done 
by some of the first Christians, only to prepare the 
Pagans to relish this doctrine the better; as it is ob- 
jected against them by Celsus in Origen.f But that 
which is yet of greater consequence is, that even the 
Fathers themselves have sometimes made use of this 
artifice, to promote either their own opinions or their 
wishes. Of this we have a notable example, which 
was objected against the Latins by the Greeks, above 
two hundred years since, of two Bishops of Rome, 
Zosimus and Boniface; J who, to authorize the title 
which they pretended to have, of being universal 
bishops, and heads of the whole Christian Church, 
and particularly of the African, forged, about the be- 
ginning of the fifth century, certain canons in the 
council of Nice, and frequently quoted them as such 
in the councils in Africa ;§ which, notwithstanding, 
after a long and diligent search, could never yet be 
found in any of the authentic copies of the said coun- 
cil of Nice, although the African bishops had taken 
the pains to send as far as Constantinople, Alexan- 
dria, and Antioch, to obtain the best and most genu- 
ine copies they could. Neither indeed do the canons 

* Hier. 1. 2. Apol. contra Ruff. torn. 2. 

f Orig. contra Cels. lib. 7. 

X Concil. Flor. Sess. 20^ p. 457. \ Concil. Afric. 6. cap. 3. 



ATTRIBUTED TO THE FATH1 T> 

and acts of the council of Nice at this day, though 
they have since that time passed through so many 
various hands, contain any such thing; no, not even 

the editions o( those very men who are the most inter- 
ested in the honour of the Popes, as that of Diony- 
sins ExigUUS, who published his Latin collection of 
them about the year of our Saviour 525: nor any 
other, either ancient or modern. 

As to that authentic copy of the council of Nice, 
which one Friar John, at the council of Floreo 
pretended to have been the only copy that had escaped 
the corruptions of the Arians,* and which had for this 
cause been always kept under lock and key at Rome, 
with all the safety and care that might be, (out 
which copy they had transcribed the said canons,) I 
confess it must needs have been kept up very do 
under locks and seals, seeing that three of their P* 
namely, Zosimus, Boniface, and Celestine, could never 
be able to produce it for the justification of their pre- 
tended title against the African Fathers, though in a 
case of so great importance. And it is a Btrange 
thing to me that this man, who came a thousand years 
after, should now at last make use of it in this cause; 
whereas those very persons who had it in their cus- 
tody never so much as mentioned one syllable of it: 
which is an evident argument that the seals of this 
rare book were never opened, save only in the brains 
of this Doctor, where alone it was both framed and 
Sealed up; brought forth, and vanished all at the same 

instant; th< st part of those men thathavecome 

r him being ashamed to make use of it any longer, 
having laid aside this chimerical invention. To 
the truth, that which these men answer, by 

wing ile- sai 1 i ' I any whit ho >ba- 

ble, \ that they took the council of Nice and 

that of Sardica, in which those canon.-: they ah' 

I 



46 SUPPOSITITIOUS WRITINGS 

really found, for one aftd the same council. For 
whom will these men ever be able to persuade, that 
two Ecclesiastical Assemblies, (between which there 
passed nearly twenty-two whole years, called by two 
several emperors, and for matters of a far different 
nature — the one of them for the explanation of the 
Christian faith, and the other for the re-establishing 
of two Bishops on their thrones ; and in places very 
far distant from each other — the one at Nicsea in 
Bithynia, the other at Sardica a city of Illyricum — 
the canons of which two councils are very different, 
both in substance, number, and authority — the one 
of them having always been received generally by 
the whole Church, but the other having never been 
acknowledged by the Eastern Church,) should yet, 
notwithstanding, be but one and the same council? 
How can they themselves endure this, who are so 
fierce against the Greeks, for having offered to attri- 
bute (which they do, notwithstanding, with more ap- 
pearance of truth) to the sixth council, those one hun- 
dred and two canons, which we're agreed upon ten 
years after at Constantinople, in an assembly wherein 
one party of the Fathers of the sixth council met? 
How came it to pass, that they gave any credit to the 
ancient Church, seeing that in the Greek collection of 
her ancient canons, those of the council of Sardica are 
entirely omitted; and in the Latin collection of Dio- 
r.ysius Exiguus, compiled at Rome eleven hundred 
years since, they are placed, not with those of the 
council of Nice, or immediately after, as making one 
entire collection with them ; but after the canons of 
all the general councils that had been held till that 
very time he lived in ?* And how comes it to pass 
that these ancient Popes, who quoted these canons, if 
they believed these councils to be both one, did not 
say so? 

The African bishops had frequently declared that 

* Codex Can. Ec. Dionys. Exig. p. 99. 



ATTRIBUTED TO THE FATHERS, 47 

these canons, which were by them referred to, were 

imr at all to be found in their copies. Certainly there- 
fore, if those who had cited thorn had thought the 
council of Nice and that of Sardica to have been both 

but one council, they would no doubt have made 
answer, that those canons were to be found in tl 
pretended second part of the council of Nice, am 

those which had been agreed upon at Sardica; eS] 
cially when they saw that these careful Fathers, for 
the clearing of the controversy between them, had 

lived to send for this purpose, as far as Constanti- 
nople and Alexandria. And yet, notwithstanding all 
this, they do not utter a word on the subject. 

Certainly if the canons of the council of Sardica 
bad been in those clays reputed as a part of the coun- 
cil of Nice, it is a very strange thing, that so many 
learned and religious prelates as there were at that 
time in Africa, (as Aurelius, Alypius, ami even Augus- 
tine, that glorious light, not of the African only but 
of the whole ancient Church,) should have been 

-rant in this particular. But it is strange beyond 
all belief, that three Popes and their mid 

leave their party in ignorance so gross, and so preju- 
dicial to their own interest; it being in their power to 
have relieved them in two words. We may safely 
then conclude that these Pop imus, ami Boni- 

face, had no other copies of the council of Nice than 

,t we have; and also, that they did not be! 

• the canons of the council of Sardi a part 

of the council of Nice: but that they rather purpoe 
some of the canons of Sardica, under tl 

the canons of the council of Nice. And ( 
did, according to that maxim which wafl in force With 

f former times, aid is not enti 

I our own, that for tic 
• is lawf 

. and to I l11 '" 1 /" 

. Afl they therefore firmly believed that the 



48 SUPPOSITITIOUS WRITINGS 

supremacy of their see over all other Churches, was 
a business of great importance, and would be very- 
profitable to all Christendom, we are not to wonder 
if, for the establishing this right to themselves, they 
made use of a little legerdemain, in adducing Sardica 
for Nice : reflecting that if they brought their design 
about, this little failing of theirs would, in process of 
time, be abundantly repaired by the benefit and excel- 
lency of the thing itself. 

Notwithstanding the opposition made by the Afri- 
can Fathers against the Church of Rome, Pope Leo, 
not many years after, writing to the emperor Theo- 
dosius,* omitted not to make use of the old forgery, 
citing one of the canons of the council of Sardica, for 
a legitimate canon of the council of Nice; which was 
the cause, that the emperor Valentinian also, and his 
empress Galla Placidia, writing in behalf of the said 
Pope Leo to the emperor Theodosius,f affirmed to 
him for a certain truth, that both all antiquity, and 
the canons of the council of Nice also had assigned 
to the Pope of Rome the power of judging -of points 
of faith, and of the prelates of the Church; Leo hav- 
ing before allowed that this canon of the council of 
Sardica was one of the canons of Nice. And thus, 
by a strong perseverance in this pious fraud, they have 
at length so fully persuaded a great part of Christen- 
dom, that the council of Nice had established this 
supremacy of the Pope of Rome, that it is now gene- 
rally urged by all of them whenever this point is con- 
troverted. 

I must request the reader's pardon for having so 
long insisted on this particular; and perhaps some- 
what longer than my design required: yet, in my 
judgment, it may be of no small importance to the 



* Leo in ep. ad Theodos. Imp. torn. 2 Concil. 
f Valentin, in ep. ad Theodos. torn. 2. Concil. Galla Placid, in 
ep. ad Theodos. torn. 2. 



ATTRIBUTED TO THB PATH) U) 

business in hand; for, (will the Protestants hero Bay) 
seeing that two Topes, Bishops, and Princes, which 
all Christians have approved) have notwithstanding, 

thus foisted in false wares, what OUght Ave to expect 
from the rest of the Bishops and Doctors? Sine- 1 tl 
men have done this, in the beginning of the fifth i 
tury, an age of so high repute for its faith and doc- 
trine, what have they not dared to do in the suceeod- 
ing ages? If they have not forborne so foully to a 1 
the sacred name of the council of Nice, (the m 
illustrious and venerable monument of Christianity 
next to the Holy Scriptures,) what other authors can 
We imagine they would spare? And if, in the f 
of so renowned an assembly, (and in the presence of 
whatever Africa could show of eminency, both for 
sanctity and learning, and even under the eye of the 
great Augustine too,) they had no compunctions of 
-cience in making use of so gross a piece of for- 
gery; what have they not since, in these later tin 
while the whole world for so many ages lay covered 
with thick darkness, dared to do? But as for my part, 
1 shall neither accuse nor excuse at present tl, 
men's proceedings, but shall only conclude, that, - 
ing the writings of the Fathers, before they came to 
US, have passed through the hands of those who h 
sometimes been found to use these juggling tricks, it 
i- not so ea-v a matter, as people may imagine, to 
discover, out of those writings which now pass under 
the name- of the Fathers, what their opinion! 

Similar motives produced the very in 

the fifth council;* where a 1- rged under the 

e of Theodoret, respecting C; Til, 

I. and by a general Bilence approved by | 
ibly ; which, notwithstandii] i \ i- 

deir vrvy men. who cauc 

the general council 



50 SUPPOSITITIOUS WRITINGS 

have convicted it of falsehood, and branded it as 
spurious. 

Such another precious piece is that foolish story of 
a miracle, wrought by an image of our Saviour Christ 
in the city Berytus, which is related in very ample 
manner in the seventh council,* and bears, forsooth, 
the name of Athanasius; but is indeed so tasteless a 
piece, and so unworthy the gallantry and clearness of 
that great wit, that he must not be thought to have 
common sense who can find in his heart to attribute 
it to him. Therefore we see that, notwithstanding 
the authority of this council, both Nannius, Bellar- 
mine, and Possevine have plainly confessed that it 
was not written by Athanasius.f 

I shall place in this rank the so much vaunted deed 
of the donation of Constantine, which has for so long 
a time been accounted as a most valid and authentic 
evidence, and has also been inserted in the decrees, 
and so pertinaciously maintained by the Bishop of 
Agobio, against the objections of Laurentius Valla. J 
Certainly those very men, who at this day -maintain 
the donation, do notwithstanding disclaim this evi- 
dence as a piece of forgery. 

Of the same nature are the epistles attributed to 
the first Popes, § as Clemens, Anacletus, Euaristus, 
Alexander, Sixtus, Telesphorus, Hyginus, Pius, Ani- 
cetus, and others, down to the times of Siricius; that 
is to say, to the year of our Saviour, 385, which the 
world read, under these venerable titles, at the least 
for eight hundred years together; and by which have 
been decided, to the advantage of the Church of 
Rome, very many controversies, and especially the 



* Concil. 7. Act. 4. torn. 3. Concil. 

I Nanni. in edit. op. Athan. Bellar. de imag. 1. 2. c. 10. et lib. 
de Script. Eccles. in Atban. Possevin. in appar. in Athan. 

J D. 96. C. Constantino nostro. 14. Augusti. Steuchms de 
Dona. Constant. 

\ Baron, in annal. Melchior Canus locor. Theolog. 1. 11. p. 511. 



t ATTRIBUTED TO TUT FATHERS, 51 

most important of all the rest, that of the Po] 
monarchy. This Bhows plain enough the motive, 

(shall I call it such I) or rather the purposed design of 
the trafficker that Erst circulated them. The greatest 
part of these are accounted forged by men of learn- 
ing, as Henricus Kaltheisen, Nicolas Cusanus, Jo. de 
Turrecremata (both cardinals,) Erasmus, Jo. Dri< 
Claudius Espenscvus, Cassander, Simon Vigor, Baro- 
nius, and others:* for indeed their forgery app< 
clear enough from their barbarous Style, the errors met 
with at every step in the computation of times and 
history, the pieces they are patched up of, stolen here 
and there out of different authors, whose books 
have at this day to show; and also by the general 
silence of all the writers of the first eight centuri 
among whom there is not one word mentioned of 
them. 

Now I shall not here meddle at all with the last six 
or seven centuries; where, in regard to various arti- 
cles of faith, most eagerly professed and established 
by them, there has been more need than ever of the 
assistance of the ancients; and whereas, owing to the 
dark ignorance of those times, and the scarcity of Op- 
] osers, they had much better opportunity than before, 
to forge what books they pleased. This abuse the 
worl 1 was never free from, till the time when the 
light broke forth in the last century; when Erasmus 
give- us an account, f how he himself had discovered 
■ of these wretched knaves, whose ordinary prac- 
tice it was to lay his own eggs in another mai 
putting his own fooleries on Jerome particularly, and 



* Hen, p. M leb. c 2 I I 

I. 2. e. 84. [o. de. Turreer. 

I <-l. l. 1 . c. -. < SI. Espens. de ( 'ontin. L I 
b, de officio pij 

mtr. Durand, 



52 SUPPOSITITIOUS WRITINGS • 

on Augustine and Ambrose. And who knows what 
those many books are, that are daily issued out of the 
self same shops, that of old were wont to furnish the 
world with these kind of deceptions ? Is it not very 
probable that both the will and the dexterity in forg- 
ing and issuing these false wares, will rather in these 
days increase than abate in the professors of this trade ? 
So that (if besides what the malice of the heretics, the 
avarice and ignorance of transcribers of manuscripts, 
and the ambition and affection of men have brought 
forth of this kind, there have yet so many others 
turned their endeavours this way, and that in a man- 
ner all along for the space of the last fourteen 
hundred years, although they had their several ends,) 
we are not to wonder at all if now, in this last age, 
we see such a strange number of writings falsely 
fathered upon the ancients; which, if they were all 
put together, would make little less than a fourth or 
a fifth part of the works of the Fathers. 

I am not ignorant that the learned have noticed a 
great number of them, and do ordinarily cast them 
into the later tomes of editions; and that some have 
written whole books upon this subject; as Ant. Pos- 
sevine's Apparatus, Bellarmine's Catalogue, Sculte- 
tus' Medulla Patrum, Rivet's Critic, and the like, both 
of the one and the other religion. But who can 
assure us that they have not forgotten anything they 
should have noted ? Besides that it is a new labour, 
and almost equal to the former to read so many books 
of the moderns as now exist. And when all is done, 
w r e are not immediately to rest satisfied with their 
judgment without a due examination. For each of 
them having been prepossessed with the prejudices of 
the party in which they were brought up, before they 
took this work in hand, who shall assure us that they 
have not delivered anything, in this case, in favour of 
their own particular interest, as we have before no- 
ticed? The justness of this suspicion is so clear, 



ATTRIBUTED TO TH1 FATHERS, 58 

that I presume that no man, any way versed in th< 

matters, will desire me to prove my assertion. Neither 
shall 1 need to give any other reason for it, than the 
conflicts and disagreement in judgments which we 
may observe in these men : the one of them oftentimes 
letting pass for pare metal what the other perhaps 
will throw by for dross; which differences are found 
not only between those that are of quite opposite 
religions, but, which is more, even between those that 
are of the self-same persuasion. 

Those whom we named not long before, who were 
all of the Roman Church, depreciate, as we have said, 
the greatest part of the decretals of the first Popes, 
Franeiscus Turrianus, a Jesuit, receives them, and 
defends them all, in a tract written by him to that 
purpose. Baronius calls the Recognitions, which are 
attributed to Clemens Romanus, "A gulf of filth and 
uncleanness; full of prodigious lies and frantic foole- 
ries."* Bellarmine says that this book was written 
either by Clemens or some other author as learned 
and as ancient as himself, f Some of them consider 
those fragments, published byNicol. Faber, under the 
name of St. Hilary, as good and genuine productions; 
and some others again reject them. Erasmus, Sixtus 
Senensis, Melchior Canus, and Baronius, arc of opi- 
nion that the book " Of the Nativity of the Virgin 
Mary," is falsely attributed to Jerome. Christopho- 
rns a Castro, a Spanish Jesuit, maintains the con- 
trary. Cardinal Cajetan, Laurentius Valla, Erasmus, 
and some others, hold the books of Dionysios 
Areopagite, as suspected and spurious. Baronius, 
and almost all the rest of their writers, maintain that 
they are true and legitimate. Turrianus, Bovin, and 
some others, recommend to us the " Constituti 

. AutimI. tom. 1 . :iii. ■" 1 . 

itemur librum esse corruptum, &c. Bed I 



54 SUPPOSITITIOUS WRITINGS 

the Apostles," as a genuine production; but Baro- 
nius, Possevine, Petavius, and a* great many others, 
speak doubtfully of them. 

We find in the writings of those of the Church of 
Rome an infinite variety of judgments in such cases 
as these. He that desires to furnish himself with 
examples of this kind, may have recourse to their 
books, and particularly to the writings of the late 
Cardinal Perron, who differs as much from the rest, 
in this point of criticism, as he does for the most 
part in the method he observes in his disputations. 
Now, I would willingly be informed what a man 
should do, amidst these diversities of judgment; and 
what path he should take, where he meets with such 
disagreeing guides. 

Yet suppose that these authors have done their 
utmost endeavour in this design, without any par- 
ticular affection or partiality; how, notwithstanding, 
shall we be satisfied concerning their capability for 
the performance of their undertaking? Is it a light 
business, think you, to bring the whole - stock of 
antiquity to the crucible, and there to purify and 
refine it, and to separate all the dross from it, which 
has so deeply, and for the space of so many ages, 
been not only, as it were, tied and fastened on to it, 
but even thoroughly mixed, united, and incorporated 
with it? This work requires the most clear and 
refined judgment that can be imagined; an exquisite 
wit, a quick piercing eye, a perfect ear, a most exact 
knowledge in all history, both ancient and modern, 
ecclesiastical and secular; a perfect knowledge of 
the ancient tongues; and a long and continued 
acquaintance with all kinds of writers, ancient, 
mediaeval, and modern, to be able to judge of their 
opinions, and which way their pulse beats: to under- 
stand rightly the manner of their expression, inven- 
tion, and method in writing: each age, each nation, 
and each author, having in all these things their own 



ATTRIBUTED TO Till: FATHERS. 

peculiar ways. Now such a man as this is hardly 
produced in a whole age. 

As for those men who in our times have taken 
upon them this department of criticism, who knows, 
Who I, that only reads them, how many (A* the 

qualifications just enumerated are wanting in themt 
But, suppose, that such a man were to be found, and 
that he should take in hand this discovery, I do 
verily believe that he would he able very easily to 
find out the imposture of a bungling fool, that had 
ill counterfeited the stamp, colour, and weight, in the 
work which he would father upon some other man : 
or that should, for example, endeavour to represent 
Jerome or Chrysostom with a stammering tongue, 
and should make them speak barbarous language, 
bad Latin, and bad Greek; or else perhaps should 
make use of such terms, things, or authors, as w< 
not known to the world, till a long time after th 
men; or should make them treat of matters Far 
removed from the age they lived in, and maintain 
opinions which they never thought of; or reject 
those which they are notoriously known to have held: 
and of this sort, for the most part, are those pi 
which our critics have decried, and noted as spuri< US. 
But if a man should chance to bring him a piece of 
some able master, that should have fully and exactly 
learned both the languages, history, manners, alli- 
ances, and quarrels of the family into which he has 
boldly obtruded himself, and should be able t<> make 
happy use of all these, be assured that our A.rist 
chus would be here as much puzzled to o this 

juggler, as they were once in France, to pi 
imi of Martin Guerre. 

■■■, how can wo imagine, but thai 
many several persons, thai have for their 
pin , I their utm iVOUre in I b< 

kind- of fo 
many centuries, very many able men, wh had 



56 SUPPOSITITIOUS WRITINGS 

the skill so artificially to copy the manner and style 
of the persons whom they imitate, as to render it 
impossible to discover them? Especially, if they 
made choice of such a name, as was the only thing 
remaining in the world of that author; so that there 
is no mark left us, either of his style, discourse, or 
opinions, to guide us in our examination. And, 
therefore, in my judgment, he was a very cunning 
fellow, and made a right choice, that undertook to 
write, under the name of Dionysius the Areopagite; 
for, not having any true legitimate piece of this 
author left us, by which we may examine the cheat, 
the discovery must needs be difficult; and it would 
have proved so much the more hard, if he had but 
used a more modest and less swelling manner of 
expression; whereas for those others, who, in the 
ages following, made bold with the names of Jerome, 
Cyprian, Augustine, and the like, (of whose legitimate 
writings we have very many pieces left us,) a man 
may know them at the first sight, merely by their 
style ; those Gothic and rude spirits being no more 
able to counterfeit the graces and elegances of these 
great authors, than an ass is to imitate the warblings 
of the nightingale. 

I confess there is another help, which, in my judg- 
ment, may better answer our purpose in this particu- 
lar than all the rest; namely, the light and direction 
of the ancients themselves, who oftentimes make 
mention of other writers of the Church, that lived 
either before or in their own times; Jerome, among 
the Latins, having taken the pains to make a cata- 
logue of all those with whose names and writings he 
was acquainted, from the apostles to his own time, 
which was afterwards continued by Gennadius. To 
this we may also add that incomparable w r ork of the 
patriarch Photius, which he calls his Bibliotheca, and 
which is now published in this our age; where this 
great person has given us his judgment of most of 



ATTRIBUTED TO Till! FATHBKS. 

the authors of the Greek Church, Now, thii aid wo 
may make use of in two different ways; the one in 

justifying a book, if it be found mentioned by th 
authors;" the other in rejecting it, if they say 
nothing of it. As for the first of these, it conclude* 

only according to the quality of the authors who 
make mention of a suspected book. For some of 
the Fathers themselves have made U86 of those kinds 
of forgeries, as we have formerly said ; others have 
favoured them because they served their turn; some 
have not been able to discover them; and BO 
others have not been willing to do so, whatsoever 
their reason has been. 

I shall not here repeat the names of any of those 
who have done these things themselves. As for 
those that have favoured them, there are numerous 
examples; as Justin Martyr, Theophilus, and others, 
who adduce the Sybils' verses as oracles; the greatest 
part of which, notwithstanding, are forged. As to 
Clemens Alexandrinus, the most learned and most 
polished of all the Fathers, in Jerome's judgment,* 
how often does he make use of those apocryphal 
pieces, which go under the names of the apo 
and disciples, to whom they were most falsely attri- 
buted; citing, under the name of Barnabas, f and of 
Hermes,^ such writings as have been forged under 
their names. And did not the seventh council in like 
manner make use of a supposititious piece attrib 
to Athanasins, as we have shown before; and I 
wise of divers others, which are of the same stamp 1 

That even the Fathers themselves therefore have 
not been able always to make a true discover y 
these false wares, no man can doubt; con- 
that of those many accessary qualifications, whioh 
enumerated b< - requisite in this particular, 

* u 

m. 

6 



58 SUPPOSITITIOUS WRITINGS 

they may oftentimes have failed in some. Jerome 
himself, the most knowing man among all the Latin 
Fathers, especially in matters of this nature, some- 
times lets them pass without examination: as where 
he speaks of a certain tract against mathematicians, 
attributed to Minutius Foelix, " If at least (saith he) 
the inscription represent unto us the right author of 
the book."* In another place, whatsoever his reason 
was^ he delivers to us, for legitimate pieces, the epis- 
tles that go under the name of St. Paul to Seneca, 
and of Seneca to St. Paul;f which, notwithstanding, 
Cardinal Baronius holds for suspected and spurious, 
as doubtless they are. J But even those men who have 
been able to discover these false pieces have not some- 
times been willing to do it; either being unwilling to 
offend the authors of them, or else not daring to cast 
any disrepute upon those books which, having many 
good things in them, had not in their judgment 
maintained any false or dangerous positions. This is 
the reason why they chose to let such things pass, 
rather than, out of a little tenderness of conscience, 
to oppose them : there being, in their apprehension, 
no danger at all in the one, but much trouble and invi- 
diousness in the other. Therefore I am of opinion, 
that Jerome, for example, would never have taken 
the pains, nor have undergone the invidiousness, of 
laying open the forgeries of Huffinus, if the misunder- 
standing that happened to be between them had not 
urged him to it. Neither do I believe that the Afri- 
can Fathers would ever have troubled themselves to 
prove the false allegation of Zosimus, but for their 
own interest, which was thereby called into question. 
For wise and sober men are never wont to fall into 
variance with any without necessity: neither do they 
quickly take notice of any injury or abuse offered 

* Hier. ep. 84. ad Magn. torn. 2. 

| Id. in Catal. torn. 1. J Baron. Annal. torn. 1. an. 66. 



ATTRIBUTED TO THE FATHERS. 50 

them, unless it be a very great one, and such as I 
evident danger in it: which was not at all perceived 
or taken notice of at first, in these forgeries, that hi 

nevertheless at length, by little and little, in a man- 
ner borne down all the good ami legitimate books. 

These considerations, in my opinion, make it clearly 
appear, that the title of a book is not sufficiently justi- 
fied by a passage or two being cited out of it by some 

of the ancients, and under the same name. As for 
the other way, which renders the authority of a hook 
doubtful, from the ancients not having made any 
mention of it, I confess it is no more demonstrative 
than the other: as it is not impossible, that any one, 
or divers of the Fathers, may not have met with such 
a certain writer that was then extant: or else perk 
that they might omit some one of those very authors 
which they knew. Yet this is, notwithstanding, the 
much surer way of the two: there being less dai 
in this case, in rejecting a true piece, than in receiv- 
ing a forged one; the want of the truth of the one 
being doubtless much less prejudicial than the receiv- 
ing the opposite falsehood of the other. For as it is 
a less sin to omit the good, than to commit the evil 
that is opposed to it; in like manner is it a less error 
not to believe a truth than to believe the fals6ho I 
which is contrary to it. And thus we see wdiat con- 
fusion there is in the books of the ancients, and what 
defect in the means which is requisite in distinguish- 
ing the false from the true: insomuch that, as it often 
happens, it is much e;isier to judge what we OUghi I I 
reject, than to resolve upon what we may safely 
receive. Let the reader therefore now judge, whet 
or not, these writings having come down through so 
man many hands, which 

known to ha d notoriously , or 

at least Btr i of forgery — the truth in 

ng made on 
resistance against these impostures — it be not a v< 



60 SUPPOSITITIOUS WRITINGS, ETC. 

difficult matter to discover, amidst the infinite number 
of books that are now extant, and go under the names 
of the Fathers, which are those that truly belong to 
them, and which, again, are those that are falsely 
imposed upon them. And if it be so hard a matter 
to discover in gross only which are the writings of 
the Fathers, how much more difficult a business will 
it be to find out what their opinions are, on the sev- 
eral controversies now in agitation. We are not to 
imagine, that it is no great matter from which of the 
Fathers such an opinion has sprung, so that it came 
from any one of them : for there is altogether as much 
difference amongst these ancient doctors, both in 
respect of authority, learning, and goodness, as 
among the modern. Besides that, an age being higher 
or lower either raises or lessens the repute of these 
writings, in the esteem both of the one party and of 
the other, as it were so many grains as years: and 
certainly not altogether without good reason; it being 
most evident to any one that has been but the least 
versed in the reading of these books, that time has by 
degrees introduced very great alterations, as well in 
the doctrine and discipline of the ancients, as in all 
other things. 

Our conclusion therefore must be, that if any one 
shall desire to know what the sense and judgment of 
the primitive Church has been, as regards our present 
controversies, it will be first in a manner as necessary 
for him as it is difficult, exactly to find out both the 
name and the age of each of these several authors. 



CORRUPTIONS, ETC. 6 I 



CHAPTER IV. 

Reason IV.— The writings of the Fathers, which nro consider* i 
legitimate, have been in many places corrupted by time, Igi 
ranee, and (rand, pious and malicious, both in the early and Later 

But now suppose that you have, by long and judi- 
cious investigation, separated the true and genuine 
writings of the Fathers, from the spurious and forged; 
there would yet rest upon you a second task, the re- 
sult of which is likely to prove much more doubtful, 
and more replete with difficulty, than the former. 
For it would behove you, in the next place, in reading 
over those authors which you acknowledge as legiti- 
mate, to distinguish what is the author's own, and 
what has been foisted in by another hand; and also 
to restore to your author whatsoever either by time 
or fraud has been taken away, and to take out of him 
whatsoever has been added by either of these two. 
Otherwise you will never be able to assure yourself 
that you have discovered, out of these books, what 
the true and proper meaning and sense of your author 
has been; considering the great alterations that in 
various ways they may have suffered at different 
times. 

I shall not here speak of those errors which have 
been produced by the ignorance of the transcribe 
"who write," as Jerome has complained of tin 

t what they find, but what themselves under- 
stand;''* nor yet of those faults which I 
have grown up out of the very transcribing; il 
impossible that books which have been copied out 
infinite number of times, durii 

twel y men of different capacities and 

handwriting, should all this while retain exactly and 

.1. i. 



62 CORRUPTIONS IN THE 

in every particular the self-same style, the same form 
and body, that they had when they first came forth 
from the author's own hand. 

I shall say nothing of the damage sustained by 
these books from moths and a thousand other injuries 
of time, by which they have been corrupted; while 
all kinds of learning, for so many ages together, lay 
buried as it were in the grave; the worms on one 
side feeding on the books of the learned, and on the 
other, the dust defacing them ; so that it is impossible 
now to restore them to their first condition. This is 
the fate that all kinds of books have been exposed to; 
whence have originated so many various readings 
found almost in all authors. I shall not here take 
any advantage of this ; though there are some doc- 
tors in the world that have showed us the way to do 
it; with the intention of lessening the authority that 
the Holy Scriptures of themselves ought to have in 
the esteem of all men; under that plea, that even in 
these sacred writings there are sometimes found vari- 
ous readings, which yet are of very little or no im- 
portance as to the ground-work. If we would tread 
in these men's steps, and apply to the writings of the 
Fathers what they say and conclude of the Scriptures, 
we could do it upon much better terms than they; 
there being no reason on earth to imagine but that 
the books of the ancient writers have suffered very 
much more than the Scriptures have, w r hich have 
always been preserved in the Church with much 
greater care than any other books, and which have 
been learned by all nations, and translated into all 
languages; which all sects have retained, both Ortho- 
dox and Heretics, Catholics and Schismatics, Greeks 
and Latins, Moscovites and Ethiopians; each observ- 
ing diligently the revisions and transcriptions of the 
other; so that there could not possibly happen any 
remarkable alteration in them, without the whole 
world as it were instantly exclaiming against it, and 



WRITINGS OF TIIK FATHERS. 68 

making their complaints to resound through the uni- 
verse. Whereas, on the contrary, the writings of the 

Fathers have been kept, transcribed, and read in .is 
careless a manner as could be: and that too by but 
very few, and in few places: being but rarely under- 
stood by any, save those of the same language; this 
being the cause that so many faults have the more 
easily crept into them, and likewise that they are the 
more difficult to be discovered. Besides that the par- 
ticular style and obscurity of some of them render 
the errors the more important. As for example, take 
a Tertullian, and you will find that one little word 
added or taken away, or altered ever so little, or a 
full point or comma put out of its place, will so con- 
found the sense, that you will not be able to discover 
his meaning: whereas in books of an easy, smooth, 
clear style, as the Scriptures for the most part arc, 
these faults are much less prejudicial; for they can- 
not in anywise so darken the sense but that it will be 
still easy enough to comprehend it. 

But I shall pass by all these minute particulars, as 
more suitable to the inquiries of the Pyrrlionians ami 
Academics, whose business it is to question all thin 
than of Christians who only seek, in simplicity and 
sincerity of heart, whereon to build their faith. I 
shall only here take notice of such alteration- 
have been knowingly and voluntarily made in the 
writings of the Fathers, purposely to conceal or dis- 
guise their sense, or else to make them speak more 
than they meant. This forgery is of two sorts; the 
one has been made use of with a good intention, the 
other out of malice. Again, the one has been com- 
mitted in times long since past, the other in this last 
. in our own days and the days of OUT fatfa 
:ly, the one is in the additions I authors, 

make them speak more than they meant; the other, 
in subtracting from the author, to eclipse .'iml darken 

what he would be Ul Lther OUght 



64 CORRUPTIONS IN THE 

we to wonder, that even those of the honest, innocent, 
primitive times also made use of these deceits; seeing 
that, for a good end, they made no great scruple to 
forge whole books, taking a much stranger and 
bolder course, in my opinion, than the other. For 
without doubt it is a greater crime to coin false money, 
than to clip or alter the true. This opinion has 
always been in the world, that to fix a certain estima- 
tion upon that which is good and true, (that is to say, 
upon what we account to be such,) it is necessary that 
we remove out of the way whatsoever may be a hin- 
derance to it, and that there can be no great danger 
either in putting in, or at least in leaving any thing 
in, that may yield assistance to it; whatsoever the 
issue of either of these may in the end prove to be. 
Hence it has come to pass, that we have so many 
ancient forgeries, and so many strange stories of 
miracles and of visions; many taking a delight in 
feigning (as Jerome says) " great combats which they 
have had with devils in deserts,"* all of which are 
merely fabulous in themselves, and acknowledged to 
be so by the most intelligent of them. Yet, notwith- 
standing, they are tolerated, and sometimes also 
recommended, as they account them useful, for the 
settling or increasing the faith or devotion of the 
people. 

What will you say, if at this day there are some 
even of those men who make profession of being the 
greatest haters in the world of these subtilties, who 
cannot nevertheless put forth any book, without lop- 
ping off or falsifying whatsoever does not wholly agree 
with the doctrine they hold for true ; fearing, as they 
say, lest such things, coming to the eye of the simple 
common people, might infect them, and possess their 
heads with new fancies. So firmly has this opinion 
been of old rooted in the nature of man. 

* D83Dionum contra se pugnantium portenta confingunt. — Hier. 
ep. 4. ad Euslic. torn. 1. 



WRITINGS OF THE FATHERS. 65 

Now, I will not here dispute whether this proceed- 
ing of theirs be lawful or not. I shall only say by 
the way that in my judgment it is shameful for the 
truth to be established or defended by such falsifica- 
tions and evasions, as if it had not sufficient weapons, 
both defensive and offensive of its own, but that it 
must borrow of its adversary. It is a very danger- 
ous course moreover, because the discovery of one 
cheat oftentimes renders the cause of those who 
practised it wholly suspected. So that, by making 
use of such sleights as these in the Christian religion, 
either for the gaining or confirming the faith of some 
of the simpler people, it is to be feared, that you 
may give distaste to the more intelligent; and by 
this means at length may chance to lose also the 
affections of the more ignorant. But whatsoever this 
course of deception be, either in itself, or in its 
conspquences, it is sufficient for my purpose, that it 
has long been the practice in the Church, in matters 
of religion ; and for proof of which I shall here 
produce some instances. 

The heretics have always been accused of using 
this artifice: but I shall not here notice what altera- 
tions have been made by the most ancient of them, 
even in the Scriptures themselves. If you would 
have a sample of this practice of theirs, only go to 
Tertullian and Epiphanius, and you will there see 
how Marcion had mutilated and altered the Gospel 
of Luke, and those Epistles of Paul, which he 
allowed to be such. Nor have the ages following 
been a whit more conscientious in this particular; as 
appears by those complaints made by Ruffinus,* in 
his expositions upon the Apostles' Creed; and in 
another treatise written by him purposely on this 
subject; which is indeed contradicted by Jerome, f 

* Ruffi. in Symbol, el lib. <1c adult script. Origen. 

f Hier. ep. 05, torn. 2, ct ApoL 2. contr. Ruffi. 



66 CORRUPTIONS IN THE 

but only in his hypothesis, as to what concerned 
Origen, but not absolutely in his thesis; and by 
similar complaints of Cyril,* and various others of 
the ancients ; and among the moderns by those very 
persons also who have put forth the general councils 
at Rome; who inform us, in the preface to the first 
volume,*}" that time and the fraud of the heretics have 
been the cause that the acts of the said councils, as 
far as they exist, have not come to our hands either 
entire or pure and perfect: and they grievously 
bewail that we should be thus deprived of so great 
and so precious a treasure. Now this testimony, 
coming from such, is to me worth a thousand others; 
they, in my opinion, being evidently interested to 
speak otherwise. For if the Church of Rome, who 
is the pretended mistress and trustee of the faith, 
has suffered any part of the councils to perish and be 
lost, which is esteemed by them as the code of the 
Church, what then may the rest have also suffered? 
what may not the heretics and schismatics have been 
able to do? And if all these evidences have been 
altered by their fraud, how shall we be able by them 
to come to the knowledge of the opinions and judg- 
ment of the ancients? I confess I am much surprised 
to see these men make so much account of the acts 
of the councils; and to make such grievous com- 
plaints against the heretics for having suppressed 
some of them. For if these things are of such use, 
why then do they themselves keep from us the acts 
of the council of Trent; which is the most important 
council, both for them and their party, that has been 
held in the Christian Church these eight hundred 
years? If it be a crime in the heretics to have kept 
from us these precious jewels, why are not they 
afraid, lest the blame which they lay on others may 

* Cyril, ep. ad Ioh. Antiocli. in Act. Cone. Eph. 
f In Prsefat. in torn. 1. Concil. Gen. 



WRITINGS OF THE FATHERS. 67 

chance to revert upon themselves? But, doubtless, 
there is something in the business that renders these 
cases different; and I confess I wonder they publish 
it not : the simpler sort, for want of being otherwise 
informed, thinking perhaps, though it may be without 
cause, that the reason why the acts of this last coun- 
cil are kept close from them, is because they know 
that the publishing of them would be either preju- 
dicial, or at least unprofitable, to the greatness of the 
Church of Rome. They also again, on the other 
side, conceive that in those other acts, which they 
say have been suppressed by the heretics, there were 
wonderful matters to be found, for the advancing and 
supporting of the Church of Rome. Whatsoever 
the reason be, I cannot but commend the ingenuity 
of these men, who, notwithstanding their interest 
which seemed to engage them to the contrary, have 
nevertheless confessed, that the councils which we 
have at this day are neither entire nor uncorrupted. 

Let us now examine whether even the orthodox 
party themselves have not also contributed something 
to this alteration of the writings of the primitive 
Church. Epiphanius reports, that in the true and 
most correct copies of Luke, it was written, that 
u Jesus Christ wept;" and that this passage had been 
quoted by Irenaeus; but that the Catholics had blotted 
out this expression, fearing that the heretics might 
abuse it. OpOodogoc dz dxpetXovxo to prjrov^ eofaihiszz:, 
xu> faj vaqaavres aurou to rs/oc, mi to foYupoTarov** 

Whether this relation be true or false, must rest 
upon the credit of the author. But this I shall say, 
that it seems to me a clear argument, that th< 
ancient Catholics would have made no great scruple 
of blotting out of the writings of the Fathers any 
word that they found to contradict their own opinions 
and judgment; and that with the same liberty that 

* Bpiphanioa id Anchor. 



\ 



68 CORRUPTIONS IN THE 

they inform us the heretics used to do. For seeing 
that, as this Father informs us, they made no con- 
science of making such an attempt upon the gospel of 
the Son of God himself, with how much greater con- 
fidence would they adventure to mangle the books of 
men ? Certainly Ruffinus, a man so much applauded 
by Jerome,* before their falling out, and so highly 
esteemed by Augustine,f who very much bewails the 
breach between those two, (and whom GennadiusJ 
has placed, with a very high eulogy of his worth, in 
his Catalogue of Ecclesiastical writers) has so filthily 
mangled, and so licentiously confounded the writings 
of Origen, Eusebius, and others, which he has trans- 
lated into Latin, that you will hardly find a page in 
his translations, where he he has not either cut off, or 
added, or at least altered something. Jerome also, 
although his opponent, yet agrees with him in this 
point ;§ confessing in several places that he had in- 
deed translated Origen, but in such a manner that he 
had taken liberty to cut away that which was dan- 
gerous, and had left only that which was useful, and 
had interpreted only what was good, and had left out 
the bad; that is to say, that if he found anything 
there that was not consonant to the common judg- 
ment and opinions of his time, and so might possibly 
give offence to the common people, he suppressed it 
in his translation. He also affirmed that Hilary, and 
Eusebius, bishop of Vercelli, had done the like.|| And 
again, in his preface to Eusebius, " De locis Hebrai- 
cis," he confesses that he left out that which he con- 
ceived was not worth remembering ; and that he had 
altered the greatest part of it. To make it evident 
that this has been his constant practice, we need but 

* Hier. ep. 5. ad Flor. et. ep. 41. ad Ruffin. 

■f Aug. ep. ad Hier. quae est inter ep. Hier. 93, et iterum ep. 97. 

J Germad. in Catal. inter op. Hier. 

I Hier. ep. 62. ad Theoph. Alex, et lib. 2. Apol. contra Ruffin, 

|| Hier, ep. 75. Id. praefat. in lib. Euseb. de loc. Hebr. 



WRITINGS OF THE FATHERS. 69 

compare his Latin chronology with the Greek frag- 
ments which remain of Eusebius; where you may 
plainly see what license these ancients allowed them- 
selves in the writings of others. 

What doubt can there be but that those men who 
came after them, following the authority of so great 
an example, carefully took out of their copies, or else 
left out of their translations, the greatest part of 
whatever they found to be dissonant to the opinions 
and customs which were received in the Church in the 
times they lived in? and likewise, that for imparting 
the greater authority to them, some have had the 
boldness to add, in some places, what they conceived 
to be wanting? Whence else co'uld it proceed, that 
we should have so many unreasonable breakings off in 
many places, and so many impertinent additions in 
others, as are frequently to be met with in the ancient 
authors? Whence otherwise should we have those 
many coarse patches in the midst of their soft satin 
and velvet; and that inequality which we observe in 
one and the same author in a quarter of an hour's 
reading? 

It would be a tedious matter to bring in here all the 
examples of this kind that might be mentioned; there 
being scarcely any of the moderns that have taken 
any pains in writing upon the Fathers, but have 
noticed and complained of this abuse. Hence it is, 
that we oftentimes meet with such notices as this, in 
the margins of the Fathers: "Hie videtur aliens 
nwjas suas" and the like;* and that also 
which is observed by Vives upon the twenty-first 
Book of Augustine de Civitate Dei; namely, that ten 
or twelve lines, which we find at this day in the 
nty-fourth chapter of that Book, containing a pos- 
sitiv :ion of purgatory, were not to be found in 

* Tom. 4. op. Ambr. p. 211. lib. g. annot. 



70 CORRUPTIONS IN THE 

the ancient manuscripts of Bruges, and of Cologne;* 
no, nor yet in that of Paris, as is noted by those that 
printed Augustine, anno 1531. One Holsteinius also, 
a Dutchman, testifies that he had met with divers 
pieces among the manuscripts of the king's library, of 
Chrysostom, Proclus, and others, that had in like man- 
ner been scratched in divers places by the like hands, 
by some interpolators of the later and worse ages.f 

But I may not here forget to observe, that this alter- 
ation has also taken place, even in the most sacred 
and public pieces, as in the liturgies of the Church, 
and the like : and I shall give you this observation, 
in order that it may carry with it the greater grace- 
fulness and weight, in the expressions of Andreas 
Masius, a man of singular and profound learning, yet 
of such candour and integrity as renders him more 
admired than his knowledge; and which, together 
with his other excellencies, endears him to all mode- 
rate men of both professions. This learned person, 
observing that the Liturgy of St Basil was not so long 
in the Syriac as in the Greek, assigns this reason — 
"For," saith he, "men have always been of such a 
humour and disposition in matters of religion, that 
you shall scarcely find any that have been able to con- 
tent themselves with the ceremonies prescribed unto 
them by their Fathers, however holy they have been 
in themselves: so that we may observe that in course 
of time, according as the prelates have thought fittest 
to unite the affections of the people to piety and devo- 
tion, many other things have been either added or 
altered, and (which is much worse,) many supersti- 

* In antiquis libris Brug. et Colon, non legnntnr isti decern aut 
duodecim qui sequuntur versus. — Lud. Vives in lib. 21. de Civ. Dei, 
c. 24. 

f Neque solius Athanasii ea fortuna, ut ineptissimorum interpo- 
latorum manus subiret, cum Chrysostomi, Procli, aliorumque homi- 
lias similibus sequiorum saeculorum ineptiis foedatas, in iisdem 
regiis codicibus invenerim. — Holstein. op. Urn. prcef. torn. op. Athan. 



WRITINGS OF THE FATHERS. 71 

tious things have been also introduced; in which par- 
ticular I conceive the Christians of Syria have been 
more moderate and less extravagant than the Greeks 
and Latins, from not having the opportunity of enjoy- 
ing that quiet and abundance of life which the others 
had."* Thus the learned Masius. Cassander also,f 
who searched the writings of the ancients with good 
intentions, acknowledges, and proves out of other 
authors, that the ancient liturgies have by little and 
little been enlarged by the several additions of the 
moderns. 

Thus proportionably as the world itself has changed, 
so would it have whatever there remained of anti- 
quity to undergo its alterations also; imagining that 
it was but reasonable that these books should in some 
measure accommodate their language to the times ; 
as the authors of them in all probability would have 
done themselves, (believing and speaking with the 
times,) had they been now living. Now to render them 
the more acceptable, they have used those arts upon 
them, that some old men are wont to practice; they 
have new-coloured their beard and mustachios, cutting 
off the rude and scattered hairs; have smoothed their 
skin, and given it a fresh complexion, and taught 
them to speak w T ith a new voice, having changed also 
the colour of their habit: insomuch that it is much to 
be feared, that we oftentimes do but lose our labour, 
when we search, in these disguised faces and mouths, 
for the complexion and language of true antiquity. 
Thus have they taught Eusebius to tell us in his 
Chronicon, that the fast of Lent was instituted by 
Telesphorus, and the observation of the Lord's day by 
Pius, both bishops of Home: which is a thing Euse- 
bius never so much as dreamt of, as may appear out 
some manuscripts of his, where you find him wholly 

* Andr. Masius, P :> r. in Litur. 6 
L in Iiturg. cap. -. 



72 CORRUPTIONS IN THE 

silent as to these points, with which the moderns are 
much pleased.* 

But to return, and take up the thread of time, we 
may observe that this license grew stronger daily as 
the times grew worse; because that the greater the 
distance of time was from the author's own age, the 
more difficult the discovery of those forgeries must 
necessarily be: the example also of some of the most 
eminent persons among the ancients, who had some- 
times made use of these sleights, adding on the other 
side boldness to every one, and courage to venture 
upon what they had done before them. For indeed, 
is it not a strange thing, that the legates of Pope Leo, 
in the year 451, in the midst of the council of Chalce- 
don, where were assembled six hundred bishops, the 
very flower and choice of the whole clergy, should 
have the confidence to quote the sixth canon of the 
council of Nice in these very words — " That the 
Church of Rome has always had the primacy :"f 
words which are. no more found in any Greek copies 
of the councils, than are those other pretended canons 
of Pope Zosimus: neither do they appear in any 
Greek or Latin copies, nor so much as in the edition 
of Dionysius Exiguus, who lived about fifty years 
after this council. When I consider that the legates 
of so holy a Pope would at that time have fastened 
such a wen upon the body of so venerable a canon, 
I am almost ready to think that we scarcely have any 
thing of antiquity left us that is entire and uncorrupt, 
except it be in matters of indifference, or which could 
not have been corrupted without much noise ; and to 
take this proceeding of theirs, which is come to our 
knowledge, as an advertisement purposely given us 
by Divine Providence, to let us see with how much 

* Euseb. in Chro. edit. num. 2148. & 2158. Vide Scalig. in loc. 
p. 198. a. & 201. a. See also Card. Perron's Reply to K. James, 
Observ. 2. c. 8. 

f Concil. Chalced. Act. 16. torn. 2. ConciL 



WRITINGS OF THE FATHERS. 73 

consideration and advisedness we ought to receive for 
the Council of Nice, and of Constantinople,, and for 
Cyprian's and Jerome's writings, that which goes at 
this day for such. 

About seventy-four years after the council of Chal- 
ccdon, Dionysius Exiguus, whom we before mention- 
ed, made his collection at Rome, which is since printed 
at Paris, cum privilegio regis, out of very ancient 
manuscripts. Whosoever will but look diligently into 
this collection, will find various alterations in it, one 
of which I shall instance merely to show how old this 
artifice has been among Christians. 

The last canon of the council of Laodicea, which 
is the hundred and sixty-third of the Greek code of 
the Church universal, forbidding to read in churches 
any other books than those which are canonical, gives 
us a long catalogue of them. Dionysius Exiguus, 
although he has indeed inserted in his collection 
(Num. 162) the beginning of the said canon, which' 
forbids to read any other books in the churches be- 
sides the sacred volumes of the Old and New Testa- 
ment, yet has wholly omitted the catalogue, or list of 
the said books: fearing, as I conceive, lest the tail of 
this catalogue might scandalize the Church of Rome, 
where many years before Pope Innocent had, by an 
express degree to that purpose, put into the canon of 
the Old Testament* the Maccabees, the Wisdom of 
Solomon, Ecclesiasticus, Tobit, Judith, &c; of which 
books the Fathers of the council of Laodicea make no 
mention at all, naming but twenty-two books of the 
Old Testament ; and in the catalogue of the New, 
utterly omitting the Apocalypse 

If any man can show me a better reason for this sup- 

— ion, let him speak. For my part I conceive this 
the most probable that can be given. However, wc 
arc not bound to divine what the motive should be, 

* Innocent Lep. 3. id exup. I" I e. 7. 



74 CORRUPTIONS IN THE 

that made Dionysius cut off that part of the canon. 
For, whatsoever the reason was, it serves the purpose 
well enough to make it appear that at that time they 
felt no compunction of conscience in curtailing, if 
need were, the very text of the canons themselves. 
So that if we had not had the good fortune to have 
this canon entire and perfect, in divers other monu- 
ments of antiquity, (as in the collections of the 
Greeks, and also in the councils of the French 
Church,) we should at this day have been wholly 
ignorant what the judgment of the Fathers of Laodi- 
cea was respecting the canon of the Holy Scriptures, 
which is one of the principal controversies of these 
times. 

It is true, I confess, that the Latins have their re- 
venge upon the Greeks, reproaching them in like 
manner, that in their translation of the code of the 
canons of the African Church, they have left the 
books of the Maccabees quite out of the roll of the 
books of Scriptures, which is set down in the twenty- 
fourth canon of their collection, expressly against the 
faith of all the Latin copies in this collection, both 
printed and manuscript, as Cardinal Perron affirms.* 
Yet there are some othersf who assure us that no 
book of Maccabees appears at all in this canon, in 
the collection of Cresconius, a bishop of Africa, not 
yet printed. 

The Greek code represents to us seven canons of 
the first council of Constantinople; which are in like 
manner found both in Balsamon and in Zonaras, and 
also in the Greek and Latin edition of the general 
councils, printed at Rome. The last three of these 
do not appear at all in the Latin code of Dionysius; 
though they are very important ones as to the busi- 
ness they relate to, which is, the order of proceeding, 

* Perron Kepi. 1. 1. c. 50. 

f Christ. Justel. in Not. ad Can. 24. Cod. Gr. Eccles. Afric. 



WRITINGS OF TIIE FATHERS. 75 

in passing judgment upon bishops accused, and in 
receiving such persons, who, forsaking their commu- 
nion with heretics, desire to be admitted into the 
Church. It is very difficult to say, what should move 
the collector to alter this council thus. But this I am 
very well assured of, that in the sixth canon, which 
is one of those he has omitted, and which treats of 
judging of bishops accused, there is not the least men- 
tion made of appealing to Rome, nor of any reserved 
\e$i wherein it is not permittec^to any, save only to 
the Pope himself, to judge a bishop; the power of 
hearing and determining all such matters being here 
wholly and absolutely referred to provincial diocesan 
synods. Now whether the Greeks made this addition 
to the council of Constantinople, (which yet is not 
very probable,) or whether Dionysius or the Church 
of Home curtailed this council, it will still appear evi- 
dent that this boldness in exscinding or making addi- 
tions to ecclesiastical writings, is not at all a modern 
invention. After the canons of Constantinople, there 
follow, in the Greek code, eight canons of the general 
council of Ephesus, set down also both by Balsamon 
and Zonaras, and printed with the acts of the said 
council of Ephesus, in the first volume of the Roman 
edition. But Dionysius Exiguus has discarded them 
all, not giving us any one of them : and you will 
hardly be able to give a probable guess what his rea- 
son should be, unless perhaps it w T ere because the 
business of the eighth canon displeased him; which 
18, that the bishops of Cyprus had their ordinations 
within themselves, without admitting the patriarch of 
Antioch to have anything to do with it; and that the 
B»me course ought to be observed in all other provinces 
and dioceses; so that no bishop should have power to 
intrude into a province which had not from the begin- 
ning been under his and his predecessor's jurisdiction : 
44 For fear, that under the pretence of the administra- 
tion of sacred offices, the pride of a secular power 



76 CORRUPTIONS IN THE 

should thrust itself into the Church ; and by this 
means we should lose/' say these good Fathers, " by 
little and little, before we were aware, the liberty that 
our Lord Jesus Christ hath purchased for us with his 
own blood. " Vva pur] rcou nazepcov ol xavovez napa- 
ftatvcDvrac, prjde ev Upoopfca^ TTpoa^rjpazc^ e^ooaca^ 
xogjicayjq TUtpoz Traprjodorjzac pyjde XaOcoptev tyjv iXeu- 
Oepcav xara ptxpov anoXeaavreQ fjv ^ptv edcoprjaaro toj 
idea) a! pare b Ki>pco<; tfpcov ' Itjgoo^ Xpcoroz* 

I know not, whether this constitution, and these 
words have put the Latins into any fright or not ; or 
whether any other reason has induced them not to 
receive the canons of the council of Ephesus into their 
code. But this is certain that they do not appear any 
where among them; and it is now at the least seven 
hundred and fifty years and upward, that Anastasius 
Bibliothecarius,f the Pope's library-keeper, testified, 
that these canons were not anywhere to be found in 
the most ancient Latin copies; accusing moreover the 
Greeks of having forged them. Let them settle this 
dispute among themselves. Whether these canons 
w r ere forged by the Greeks; or whether they have 
been blotted out of this council, by the Latins ; it is 
still a clear case, that the cheat is very near eight 
hundred years standing. But in the next example 
that follows, the business is evidently clear. For 
whereas the Greek code, Num. 206, sets before us, 
in the 28th canon of the general council of Chalcedon, 
a decree of those Fathers, by which, conformably to 
the first council of Constantinople, they ordained, that 
u seeing the city of Constantinople was the seat of the 
senate, and of the empire, and enjoyed the same pri- 
vileges with the city of Rome; therefore it should in 
like manner be advanced to the same height and great- 
ness in ecclesiastical affairs, being the second church 

* Concil. Eph. Can. 8. qui in 7. Gr. est 178. Cod. Can. Eccl. 
f Anastas. Biblioth. Prsef. in Synod. 8. torn. 3. Concil. Gen. 



^YRITINGS OF THE FATHERS. 77 

in order, after Rome: and that the bishop of it should 
have the ordaining of Metropolitans in the three 
dioceses of Pontus, Asia, and Thrace." Ttjp ftaatX- 
eta yji: tpjrxhrcw veumOeetrav Ttohv* xai zcov lacov 
datoXajJouaau Kpeaftetcov rjj 7rpe0(juTepqi ftounkedt Potffj], 
xat H roec Ixxkqotturcixois a>z ixeeuyv psfakuvsaQaz 
npacffiam, deirrepav fier* ixeevrjv bitapyouoavl* 

This canon is found both in Balsamon and Zon- 
aras; and has also the testimony of the greatest part 
of the ecclesiastical historians, both Greek and Latin, 
that it is a legitimate canon of the council of Chalce- 
don; in the acts of which council, at this day also 
extant, it is set down at large: yet, notwithstanding, 
in the collection of Dionysius Exiguus this canon 
appears not at all, no more than if there had never 
been any such thing thought of at Chalcedon. We 
know very well, that Pope Leo and some others of 
his successors rejected it; but he that promised us 
that he would make an orderly digest of the canons 
of the councils, and translate them out of the Greek, 
why or how did he, or ought he, to omit this so re- 
markable a canon ? If all other evidences had been 
lost, how should we have been able so much as to 
have guessed that any such thing was ever treated of 
at Chalcedon? Where, or by what means, could we 
have learned what the opinion was of the six hun- 
dred and thirty Fathers, who met there together re- 
specting this point, which is the most important one 
of all those that are at this day controverted among 
us? It is now eleven hundred years and upward, 
since this omission was first made. And who will 
pass his word to us, that among so many other wri- 
tings, whether of councils or particular men's works, 
whether Greek or Latin, similar liberty has not been 

aHy time used? Rather by these forgeries which 
have come to our knowledge, who can doubt but that 

:ic. Chalc. Gnec. Bccl. Univ. 



78 CORRUPTIONS IN THE 

there have been many others of the same kind, which 
we are ignorant of? You have gone along innocently 
perhaps, reading these books of the ancients, and 
believing you there find the pure sense of antiquity; 
and yet you see here, that from the beginning of the 
sixth century they have made no scruple of cutting 
off, from the most sacred books they had, whatsoever 
was not agreeable to the taste of the times. And 
therefore, though we had no more against them than 
this, it were, in my judgment, a sufficient reason to 
induce us to go on here very warily, and, as they say, 
with a tight rein, through this whole business. 

In the next place there is a very observable cor- 
ruption in the epistle of Adrian I. to the Emperor 
Constantine, in the time of the second council of 
Nice.* For in the Latin collection of Anastasius, 
made about seven hundred and fifty years since, 
Adrian is there made to speak very highly and mag- 
nificently of the supremacy of his see ; and he rebukes 
the Greeks very shrewdly, for having conferred upon 
Tarasius, the patriarch of Constantinople, the title of 
Universal Bishop ; and all this while there is not so 
much as one w T ord of this to be found either in the 
Greek edition of the said seventh council, nor yet in 
the common Latin ones. The Romanists accuse the 
Greeks of having suppressed these two clauses ; and 
the Greeks again accuse the Romanists of having 
foisted them in: neither is it easy to determine on 
which side the guilt lies. However, it is sufficient for 
me, that wheresoever the fault lies, it evidently appears 
hence, that this curtailing and adding to authors, ac- 
cording to the interest of the present times, has now 
a very long time been in practice amongst Christians. 
It appears also very evidently, in the next piece fol- 
lowing in the same council, namely, the Epistle of 
Adrian to Tarasius, that it is quite another thing in 

* Concil. 7, Act. 2, torn. 3, Concil. 



WRITINGS OF THE FATHERS. 79 

the Greek from what it is in Anastasius's Latin trans- 
lation ; and that in points too of as high importance 
as those others before mentioned. So in the fifth act 
likewise, where both in the Greek text, and also in 
the old Latin translation, Tarasius is called Universal 
Bishop,* this title appears not at all in Anastasius's 
translation. 

In the same act, the Fathers accuse the Iconoclastsf 
of having cut many leaves out of a certain book in 
the library at Constantinople; and that at a certain 
city called Photia, they had burned to the number of 
thirty volumes; that besides this, they had erased the 
annotations out of a certain book ; and all this out of 
the malice they bore against images, of which these 
books spoke well and favourably. 

Yet I do not see how we can excuse the Romanists 
from being guilty of corrupting Anastasius in those 
passages above noted ; nor yet of the injury they do 
Eusebius, in the exposition which thej T give of certain 
words of his, only to render him odious; objecting 
against him, because he says, that "the carnal form 
of Jesus Christ was changed into the nature of the 
Deity:" — c Otc [teTefikydy jj ivaapxoz abzoo /lofxp'/j ei£ 
Tfjju rye (Iz'.ozYjZo^ c'jars. Whereas all that he says is, 
" that it w T as changed by the Deity dwelling in it:" 
A lvaapva$ a'jzo'j ftopipT) TZftoc T'^c i^o:xou(T/^ wjtq 
Uz'j)7Y-oz fier a t j/> r { 6 no a . J 

Hence it appears how much credit we are to give 
to these men, when they instance here and there divers 
strange and unheard of pieces; and on the contrary 
scornfully reject whatever their adversaries bring; as, 
for example, that remarkable passage quoted by them 
out of Epiphanius; which passage they refused as 
supposititious: u Because, (said they,) if Epiphanius 
had been of the same judgment with the Iconoclasts, 

* Concil. 7. \'-t. 5, torn. 3, ConciL f [b. p. 567i 

X Concil. 7, A-.-t. 6, &dv< i. tconocL Beet. o. 



80 CORRUPTIONS IN THE 

he would then in his Panarium have reckoned the 
reverencing of images among the other heresies:" 
El rrjv zcov etdcoXcov nocrjOiv dJlozptav zoo Xpcazoo 
iytvcoaxev, elq zov dpcdpiov zcov alpeaecov zaozyv xazeza* 

May not a man, by the same reason, as well con- 
clude that Epiphanius was a favourer of the Icono- 
clasts? for otherwise he would have included their 
doctrine among the rest of the heresies enumerated 
by him. I shall not here say anything of their re- 
fusing so boldly and confidently those passages quoted 
from Theodotus Ancyranus, and others. Since that 
time you will find nothing more common in the books 
both of the Greeks and the Latins, than the like re- 
proaches, that they mutually cast upon each other, 
of having corrupted the writings and evidences wherein 
their cause was the most concerned. As, for exam- 
ple, at the council of Florence ;f Mark, bishop of 
Ephesus, disputing concerning the procession of the 
Holy Ghost, had nothing to answer to two passages 
that were alleged against him, (the one out of that 
piece of Epiphanius which is intitled Anchoratus, the 
other out of Basil's writings against Eunomius,) but 
that " that piece of Epiphanius had been long since 
corrupted," (zouzo zo ftcfiXiov iazt dce(pdo.ppevov npo 
noXXtav ipovo)v\) and so likewise of that other passage 
out of Basil, that "some one or other who favoured 
the opinion of the Latins, had accommodated it to 
their views;" moreover protesting,! that in all Con- 
stantinople there were but four copies of the said 
book that had that passage quoted by the Latins ; but 
that there were in the said city above a thousand 
other copies wherein those words were not to be 
found at all. 

The Latins had nothing to retort upon them more 

* Concil. 7, Act. 6, aclverp. Synod. Iconocl. p. 616. 

f Concil. Florent. Act. 18, torn. 4, Cone. % lb. Act. 20. 



WRITINGS OF THE FATHERS. 81 

readily than that it bad been the ordinary practice, 
not of the West but of the East, to corrupt books ; 
and for proof thereof, they cite a passage out of Cyril, 
which we have heretofore noticed: where, notwith- 
standing, he says not anything but of the heretics, 
(that is, the Nestorians,) who were said to have falsi- 
fied the epistle of Athanasius to Epictetus; but not a 
word there ot all the Eastern men, much less of the 
whole Greek Church. The Greeks then retorted 
upon the Latins the story of Pope Zosimus, men- 
tioned in the preceding chapter. Thus did they un- 
ceremoniously assail each other, having, as may be 
easily perceived, much more appearance of reason 
and of truth in their accusation of their adversaries, 
than in excusing or defending themselves. 

I shall here also give you another similar answer, 
made by one Gregorius, a Greek monk, a strong 
maintainer of the union made at Florence, to a pas- 
sage cited by Mark, bishop of Ephesus, out of a cer- 
tain book of John Damascene; affirming that u the 
Father only is the cause," to wit, in the Trinity.* 
" These words (saith this monk) are not found in any 
of the ancient copies," which is an evident argument, 
that it had been afterwards foisted in by the Greeks, 
to bring over this doctor to their opinion. Petavius has 
in like manner lately rid himself of an objection, taken 
out of the sixty-eighth canon of the Apostles, against 
the fasting on Saturdays, w r hich is observed in the 
Romish Church, pretending that the Greeks have 
falsified this canon. f 

But whosoever desires to see how full of uncertainty 

the writings of this later antiquity are, let him but 

1 the eighth council, which is pretended by the 

Western Church to be a general council, and but com- 

* Apol. lion. Protosyn, contra Ep. Marc. Eph, in torn. 

•1. I ' mcil. 

- Not. in Epiph&n. 

8 



82 CORRUPTIONS IN THE 

pare the Latin and the Greek copies together; — 
taking especial notice also of the preface of Anasta- 
sius Bibliothecarius ; who (after he has very sharply 
reproved the ambition of the Greeks, and accused the 
canons which they produce of the third general coun- 
cil as forged and supposititious,) to make short work 
with them says, in plain terms, that the Greeks have 
corrupted all the councils except the first. 

What then have we now left us to build upon, see- 
ing that this corruption has prevailed even as far as 
on the councils, which are the very heart of the 
ancient monuments of the Church ? Nor yet has the 
Nicene creed, which has been approved and made 
sacred in so many general councils, been able to 
escape these alterations. Not to say anything of 
these expressions, which are of little importance, de 
coelis, from heaven ; secundum Scripturas, according 
to the Scriptures ; Deum de Deo, God of God ; which 
cardinal Julian affirmed at the council of Florence* 
were to be found in some creeds, and in some others 
were not : it is now the space of some ages past, since 
the Eastern Church accused the Western of having 
added Filioque (and the Son) in the article on the 
procession of the Holy Ghost : the Western men as 
senselessly charging upon them again, that they have 
cut it off ;f which is an alteration, though but trivial 
in appearance, of vast importance to both sides, for 
the decision of that great controversy which has hith- 
erto caused a separation betwixt them ; namely, 
" Whether or not the Holy Ghost proceeds from the 
Son as well as from the Father :" which is an evident 
argument, that either the one or the other of them 
has, out of a desire to do service to their own side, 
laid false hands upon this sacred piece. 

* Ooncil. Flop. Sess. 12. 

f Concil. Flor. Ses. 4 et 5, et Concil. 7, Act. 7, quo loco vidend. 
annot. marg. 



WRITINGS OF THE FATHERS: 83 

Now whatever has been attempted in this kind by 
the ancients, may well pass for innocence, if compared 
with what these later times have dared to do: their 
passion being of late years so much heated, that 
laying all reason and honesty aside, they have most 
miserably ami shamelessly corrupted all kinds of books 
and of authors. Of those men that go so desperately 
to work, we cannot certainly speak of their baseness 
as it deserves: and in my judgment, Laurentius I3o- 
ehellus, in his preface to the Decreta Eoclesise (xalli- 
eanse, had all the reason in the world to detest these 
men, as "people of a most wretched and malicious 
spirit, who have most miserably mutilated an infinite 
number of authors, both sacred and profane, ancient 
and modern; their ordinary custom being to spare no 
person, no not kings; nor even St. Louis himself; out 
of whose Pragmatica Sanctio (as they call it) they 
have blotted out certain articles (principally those 
which concerned the state of France,) from that library 
of the Fathers, the Constitutiones Regise, and others 
also from the Synodical Decrees of certain Bishops, 
lately printed at Paris. Wo, wo, (to speak with the 
prophet) to these mischievous knaves who do not only 
lay such treacherous snares for the venerable chastity 
and integrity of the Muses, but do also most impu- 
dently and wickedly deflower, under a false and coun- 
terfeit pretence of religion, even the Muses them- 
selves, accounting this juggling to be but a kind of 
pious fraud."* 

* Taceo innumeros auotorea aacros, profanoa, veteres, recentiorea 

»bistU tarn improbi quam infoelicia ingenii bomtabua imaerabuiter 

i paroere aon aasuetia, uedum 8. buao- 

tfbouloa ""•"."" 11 "^ 

-,.t,im pertinentes, aba bibbotheca dla BS. 

,porum qnorundani 

Burbium L mper imp* |lllit - 

ttcumVid t,nebnlon 

ffldsBi - 

identer, et aequtfw subdolo rc.igiows 



84 CORRUPTIONS IN THE 

We do not here write against these men ; it is suf- 
ficient for us to give a hint only of that which is as 
clear as the sun; namely, that they have altered and 
corrupted, by their additions in some places, and cur- 
tailing in others, very many of the evidences of the 
ancient belief. These are they, who in this part of 
the twelfth epistle of Cyprian, written to the people 
of Carthage — " I desire that they would but patiently 
hear our council, &c. that our fellow bishops being 
assembled together with us, we may together examine 
the letters and desires of the blessed martyrs, accord- 
ing to the doctrine of our Lord, and in the presence 
of the confessors, et secundum vestram quoque senten- 
tiam, (and according as you also shall think conve- 
nient)"* — have maliciously left out these words, et 
secundum vestram quoque sententiam: by which we 
may plainly understand, that these men would not by 
any means have us know, that the faithful people had 
ever anything to do with, or had any vote in, the affairs 
of the Church. These are the same, who, in his for- 
tieth epistle, have changed Petram into Petrum;\ (a 
Rock into Peter;) and who, following the steps of the 
ancient corrupters, have foisted into his tract De Uni- 
tate Ecelesise, wherever they thought fit, whole periods 
and sentences, against the faith of the best and most 
uncorrupted manuscripts : as, for example in this place ; 

zelo, nullius frontis homines devirginant, fucumque istum pietatis 
nomen ementitum, inter pias fraudes numerant. — Laur. Bochel, 
Prcefat. in decret. Eccles. GaL 

* Audiant queeso patienter consilium nostrum; expectent regres- 
sionem nostram, ut cum ad vos per Dei misericordiam venerimus, 
convocati coepiscopi plures secundum Domini doctrinam, et confes- 
sorum prsesentiam, beatorum Martyrum literas et desideria exami- 
nare possimus. (Cypr. Ep. 14. Extr.) — Cypr. Pamel. et Grypk. 
Lugd. an. 1537, 1. 3, ep. 16, p. 148; alise editiones, ut Manutii, 
item Morelli, Par. an. 1564, p. 158, legunt "secundum vestram 
quoque sententiam." 

f Cathedra una super Peirum Domini voce fundata. [Cypr. 
Pamel. Epist. 40, p. 76.)— Grypk. an. 1537, p. 52, Morel, an. 1564, 
p. 124, kabebant super Petram. 



WRITINGS OF THE FATHERS. €5 

"He built his Church on Ilira alone, (Peter,) and 
commanded him to feed his sheep;* and in this; "He 
aalablifihed one sole chair :"f and this other; "The 
primacy was given to Peter, to show that there was 
but one church, and one chair of Christ :J and this; 
tk Who left the chair to Peter, on which ho had built 
hifl church. "§ These being additions which everyone 
may see the object of. 

These are the men who cannot conceal the regret 
they have for not having suppressed an epistle of Fir- 
milianus, archbishop of Cresarea in Cappadocia, who 
was one of the most eminent persons of his time; 
which epistle Manutius had indeed omitted in his 
Roman edition of Cyprian ;|| but was afterwards 
inserted by Morellius in his, amongst the epistles of 
Cyprian, to whom it was written; and all because it 
informs us how the other bishops in ancient times 
had dealt with the Pope. Thus we may hence observe 
of what temp-er these men have always been, and may 
guess how many similar pieces have been killed in the 
nest. Out of the like storehouse it is, that poor Am- 
brose is sent abroad, but so ill accoutred, and in so 
pitiful a plight, that Nicolas Faber has very much 
bewailed the corruption of him. If For those gentle- 

* Super ilium mram SBdincat Eeclesiam su.im, et illi pa.scenrtag 
man >r. Pamel. p. 254) — Quae verba desiderantur 

in edit. Gryph. anno L637, e1 Morel, anno. I 

cathedram constitoit. {Cypr. Pamel. ibid.) — Quae verba 
lantur in editione Gryphii, anno 1637, et Morel, anno L564. 
J r Petro datur, ut una Ecclesia Christi, et cathedra una 

- sunl omnes; scl anna grex ostenditur, « | ui 
mnibufl nnanimi consenaione pascatur. [Cypr* 1' 
| ;;e verba omnia, exceptis illie (ui ana Ecclesia monstretur) 
bantur in edit. Gryph. aeque MoreL ati Bap. 
Qui cathedram Petri super quam fundata est Ecclesia. (C 
/' : a a Gryph. et Morel, edit. 

Qsultiufi foret, aunquam editam Jf 
•i: ita at putem, consulto Qlam omj isse M mutium. — 

/' . inr. 

1 Front. Dncceum in Opusc. p. 216. 

8* 



86 CORRUPTIONS IN THE 

men who have published him being over ingenious (as 
he saith) in another man's works, have changed, man- 
gled, and transposed divers things : and especially 
have they separated the books of the "Interpellation 
of Job, and of David," which were put together in all 
other editions; and to do this they have, by no very 
commendable example, foisted in and altered divers 
things : and they have likewise done as much in the 
"First Apology of David;" and more yet in the 
second; where they have erased out of the eighth 
chapter five or six lines which are found in all the 
ancient editions of this Father.* They have also 
attributed to this author certain tracts which are not 
his; as that "Of the Forbidden Tree;" and that other 
upon the last chapter of the Proverbs. We may, by 
the way, also take notice, that this is the edition 
which they followed, who printed Ambrose's works at 
Paris, anno 1603. They were such hands as these 
that so villainously curtailed the book " Of the Lives 
of the Popes," written by Anastasius, or rather by 
Damasus ; leaving out, in the very entry of it, the 
author's epistle dedicatory, written to Jerome, because 
it did not so well suit with the present temper of 
Rome; omitting, in like manner, in the life of Peter, 
the passage which I shall here quote as it is found in 
all manuscripts; "He consecrated St. Clement Bishop, 
and committed to his charge the ordering of his seat, 
or of the whole Church, saying, As the power of bind- 
ing, and loosing, was delivered to me by my Lord Je- 
sus Christ; in like manner do I commit to thy charge 
the appointing of such persons as may determine such 
ecclesiastical causes as may arise; that thou thyself 
mayest not be taken up with worldly cares, but may- 
est apply thy whole studies only to prayer, and 
preaching to the people. After he had thus disposed 

* Nic. Faber, ibid. p. 215. 



WRITINGS OF THE FATHERS. 87 

of his seat, he was crowned with martyrdom."* This 
is the testament that Peter made; but it has been sup- 
pressed and kept from us, because in it he has 
charged his successors with such duties as are quite 
contrary both to their humour and practice. In an- 
other place, in the same book, instead of Papa Urbis, 
(that is to say, "the Pope or Bishop of the city," 
namely, of Rome, as all manuscripts have it) these 
worthy gentlemen will needs have us read Papa Orbis, 
that is, "the Bishop of the whole world: "f inasmuch 
as this is now the style of the court, and this has long 
since become the title of the bishop of Rome. 

These are the men, who in Fulbertus, bishop of 
Chartres,J (where he cites that remarkable passage of 
Augustine, " This then is a figure commanding us to 
communicate of the passion of the Lord,") have in- 
serted these words, "Figura ergo est, dicet hsereti- 
cus:" (It is a figure then, will a heretic say:) cun- 
ningly making us believe this to be the saying of a 
heretic, which was indeed the true sense and mean- 
ing of Augustine himself, and so cited by Fulbertus. 
These are the very men also, who in St. Gregory have 
changed exercitus sacerdotum into exitus saeerdotum ; 
reading, in the 38th epistle of his fourth book, thus: 
" All things, &c. which have been foretold, are accom- 
plished. The king of pride (he speaks of Antichrist) 
is at hand ; and, which is horrible to be spoken, the 

* Hie P>. Clementcm Episcopum con^ccravit. eiquc cathedram, 
vel ecclesiam omnem disponendam commisit, dicens: Sicul mihi 
irnandi tradita est a Domino meo Jeeu Christo potestaa Ligandi 
■ ego tilii committo, at ordines dispositores diver- 
BanuD cauaarum, per quoa actus ecclesiasticue ] -r< .ii icrct n r : el tu 
minima in curie Beculi deditus reperiaris, Bed solummodo ad oration- 
itioncm populi vacare etude. Post banc diepoeition- 
ioronatur. — Babentur haec ex Euchar. Balm, ad 
. 5, Bditio Par. anno L621, p. 66 I. 
f Dei ordinante providentia Papa Orbie consecratu Iftoa- 

§ phono v. p. 216.) — MSB. babent, Papa Urbis y <"v Balm. 
Birmond. pag. L6 I. 
X Vid. Fulbort Carnot. Edit a Villerio, anno ' . p. 168. 



88 CORRUPTIONS IN THE 1 

failing (or end) of priests is prepared: whereas the 
manuscripts (and it is so cited by Bellarmine too) 
read, "An army of priests is prepared for him."* 

These are they who have made Aimoinus to say, 
that the Fathers of the pretended eighth general coun- 
cil "had ordained the adoration of images, according 
as had been before determined by the orthodox doc- 
tors :" whereas he wrote quite contrary, "that they 
had ordained otherwise than had been formerly de- 
termined by the orthodox doctors ;" as appears plainly, 
not only by the manuscripts, but also by the most 
ancient editions of this author ; and even by Card. 
Baronius, quoting this passage also, in the tenth tome 
of the Annals, anno Domini 869. f 

These are they who have entirely erased this fol- 
lowing passage out of (Ecumenius : "For they who 
defended and favoured the law, introduced also the 
worshipping of angels; and that because the law had 
been given by them. And this custom continued long 
in Phrygia, insomuch that the council of Laodicea 
made a decree, forbidding to make any addresses to 
angels, or to pray to them : whence also it is that we 
find many temples among them erected to Michael 
the Archangel." 01 yap toj vofitp ouvqyopouvTZZ, xac 
tooq dyyzXooq Gefiscv dorjyoovTO, ore di durwv xac 6 
vopoc, idody. 'E/jtecue de touto xara Opoycav to ido^, 
a»C xac rqv & Aaodcxeca aovodov voptuj xcoXuaat to 
Ttpoacevat dyyeloc^ xac Tcpocreo^sadac, dtp ou xac vaoc 
izap duTOcz too dp-£cGTpaT7]fou McyaqX tcoXXoc. 

* Omnia, &c. quae prsedicta sunt, fiunt. Rex Superbise prope est; 
et quod dici nefas est, Sacerdotum ei prasparatur exitus. ( Greg or 
M. ep. I. 4. ep. 38.) — MSS. habent, 'Sacerdotum ei prseparatur ex- 
ercitus;' ex Tho. James, in Vindic. Gregor. loc. 666; quomodo 
citatur etiam & Bellarmino hie locus, lib. 3. de Rom. Pont. c. 13. 
Sect. Addit. et extr. c. Sect, pari ratione. 

| In qua Synodo,(quam Octavam Universalem illuc convenientes 
appellarunt) de imaginibus adorandis, secundum quod orthodoxi 
doctores antea definierant, statuerunt. (Aimon. de Gest. Franc, lib. 
5, c. 8.) — Legendum; "Aliter quam orthodoxi definierant; sic enim 
legit ipse Baron. Annal. torn. 10. an. 869. 



WRITINGS OF THE FATHERS. 89 

This passage David Hceschelius, in his notes upon 
the books of Origen against Celsus, p. 483, witnesses 
that he himself had seen and read in the manuscripts 
of (Ecumenius ; and yet there is no such thing to be 
found in any of the printed copies. Who would be- 
lieve but that the Breviaries and Missals should have 
escaped their pruning-knife ? Yet, as it has been 
observed by persons of eminent learning and honesty, 
where it was read, in the collect on St. Peter's day 
heretofore thus : " Deus, qui B. Petro Apostolo tuo, 
collatis clavibus regni coelestis, animas ligandi, et sol- 
vendi Pontificium tradidisti:" (that is, God, who 
hast committed to thy Apostle St. Peter, by giving 
him the keys of the heavenly kingdom, the episcopal 
power of binding and loosing souls :*) in the later edi- 
tions of these Breviaries and Missals, they have wholly 
left out the word animas (souls;) to the end that people 
should not think that the Pope's authority extended 
only to spiritual affairs, and not to temporal also. So 
likewise in the Gospel upon the Tuesday following the 
Third Sunday in Lent, they have printed, "Dixit Jesus 
discipulis suis;"f (that is, "Jesus said to his disci- 
ples;") whereas it was in the old books "Respiciens 
Jesus in discipulos dixit Simoni Petro, Si peccaverit 
in te frater tuus :"^ (Jesus looking back upon his dis- 
ciples, said unto Simon Peter, If thy brother have 
offended against thee, &c.,) cunningly omitting those 
words relating to Simon Peter, for fear it might be 
thought that our Saviour Christ had made St. Peter, 
that is to say, the Pope, subject to the tribunal of the 
Church to which he there sends him. 

If the council of Trent would but have hearkened 
to Thomas Passio, a canon of Valencia, they should 

* Simon Vigor. 1. 1. <lo la Monarch. Ecclesiastiqne, ch, 1. P. 
P v et, I. >ntr. Bellarm. Sic legitur in Brev. Clement. 

VI J T. 

in Breviar. Clem. Vlll. jussu recogn. p. 369. 
batui in Brev. impr< 1 192, per .J", de Prato. 



90 CORRUPTIONS IN THE 

have blotted out of the Pontifical all such passages as 
make any mention of the people's giving their suf- 
frage and consent in the ordination of the ministers 
of the Church: and, among the rest, that where the 
bishop, at the ordination of a priest, saith, "That it 
was not without good reason, that the Fathers had 
ordained that the advice of the people should be taken 
in the election of those persons who were to serve at 
the altar; to the end that having given their assent to 
their ordination, they might the more readily yield 
obedience to those who were so ordained/'* The 
meaning of this honest canon was, that to take away 
all such authorities from the heretics, the best way 
would be to blot them all out of the Pontifical; to the 
end that there might be no trace or footstep of them 
left remaining for the future. 

They have not, however, contented themselves with 
merely corrupting in this manner certain books, out of 
which perhaps we might have been able to discover 
what the opinion and sense of the ancients has beenrf 
but they have also wholly abolished a very great num- 
ber of others. And for the better understanding of 
this, we should notice that the emperors of the first 
ages took all possible care to suppress and abolish all 
such writings as were declared prejudicial to the true 
faith; as the books of the Arians and Nestorians and 
others, which were forbidden to be read under a great 
penalty, but were to be wholly suppressed and abol- 
ished by the appointment of these ancient princes. 

The Church itself also sometimes called in the books 
of such persons as had been dead long before, by the 

* Neque enim fuit frustra a patribus institutum, ut de electione 
illorum, qui ad regimen altaris adhibendi sunt, consulatur etiam 
populus ; quia de vita et conversatione prgesentandi, quod nonnun- 
quain ignoratur a pluribus, scitur a paucis ; et necesse est, et facilius 
ei quis obedientam exliibeat ordinato, cui assensum prsebuerit, or- 
dinandi — Pontif. Rom. de Ordinat. Presbyt. fol. 38. 

f Pet. Soave, Hist. Concil. Trident. 1. 7. 



WRITINGS OF THE FATHERS. 91 

common consent of the Catholic party, as soon as 
they perceived anything in them that was not con- 
sonant to the present opinion of the Church: as it did 
at the fifth general council,* in the business of Theo- 
doras, Theodoretus, and Ibas, all three bishops, the 
one of Mopsuestia, the other of Cyrus, and the third 
of Edessa ; anathematizing each of their several wri- 
tings, notwithstanding these persons had been all dead 
long before: dealing also, even in the quiet times of 
the Church, with Origen in the same manner, after 
he had been dead about three hundred years. j" 

The Pope hath not failed to imitate, for the space 
of many ages, both the one and the other of these 
rigorous courses ; increasing moreover the harshness 
of them from time to time : insomuch that, in case 
any of the opinions of the ancients has been by chance 
found at any time to contradict his, there is no doubt 
but that he has very carefully and diligently suppress- 
ed such writings, without sparing any, more than the 
others, though they were written perhaps two, three, 
four, or five hundred years before. As for example, 
it is at this time disputed, whether or not the primi- 
tive Church had in their temples, and worshipped, 
the images of Christ and of saints. This controversy 
has been sometimes very warmly, and with much 
heat, and for a long time together, disputed in the 
Greek Church. That party which maintained the 
affirmative, bringing the business before the seventh 
council held at Nic8&a,$ it was there ordained, that it 
should be unlawful for any man to have the books of 
the other party, and charging every man to bring 
what books they had of that party to the Patriarch of 
Constantinople, to do with them, as we may imagine, 
according as had been required by the legates of 
Pope Adrian; that is, " That they should burn all 



', CoL 8. -; M. Col. 6. ct Col. 8. Anath. 11. 

| ConciL 7, Act. 8, I 



92 CORRUPTIONS IN THE 

those books which had been written against the vene- 
rable images :" ^Iva navra za auyypaiijiara ra xara 
rcov aenrojv ecxovcov yevofisva juera dvads/uarccrfjiou 
Xecavdcoaiv, ij toj rrupc napadodaxjc:^ including no 
doubt, within the same condemnation, all such writ- 
ings of the ancients as seemed not to favour images ; 
as the epistle of Eusebius to Constantia ; and that of 
Epiphanius to John of Jerusalem, and others which 
are not now extant, but were in all probability at 
that time abolished. As for the epistle of Epiphanius, 
that which we now have is only Jerome's translation 
of it, which happened to be preserved in the western 
parts, where the feeling in behalf of images was much 
less violent than it was in the eastern : but the origi- 
nal Greek of it is no where to be found. Adrian II. 
in his council ordained, in like manner, that the coun- 
cil held by Photius against the Church of Rome 
should be burnt, together with his other books, and 
all the books of those of his party which had been 
written against the see of Rome : and he commanded 
the very same thing also in the eighth council, which 
is accounted by the Latins for a general council. f 

It is impossible but that in these fires very many 
works must needs have perished that might have been 
of great use to us for discovering what the opinion of 
the ancients was, whether respecting images, which 
was the business of the seventh council ; or that other 
controversy respecting the power of the Pope, which 
was the principal point debated in the synod held by 
Photius; some of whose writings, for the self-same 
reason, they at this day keep at Rome under lock and 
key ; which doubtless they would long ere this have 
published, had they but told as much for the Pope as 
in all probability they tell against him. This rigorous 
proceeding against books at length arrived to such a 

* Concil. 7, Act. 5. 

f Cap. 1, habetur in Concil. 8, Act. 7. Ibid. Act. 1, in Ep. 
Adriani. 



WRITINGS OF THE FATHERS. 93 

height, that Leo X., at the council of Lateran, which 

broke up in the year 1518, decreed, " that no book 
should be printed but what had first been diligently 
examined at Rome by the Master of the Palace, in 
other places by the bishop, or some other person de- 
puted by him for the same purpose, and by the Inqui- 
sitor, under this penalty, That all booksellers offend- 
ing herein should forfeit their books, which should be 
burnt in public, and should pay a hundred ducats, 
when it should be demanded, towards the fabric of St. 
Peter, (a kind of punishment this, which w T e find no 
example of in all the canons of the ancient Church ;) 
and should also be suspended from exercising his 
function, for the space of a whole year."* 

This is a general sentence, and which comprehends 
as well the works of the Fathers as of any others ; 
as appears plainly by this, that the bishop of Malfi, 
having given in his opinion, saying, that he concurred 
with them in relation to new authors but not to the 
old, all the rest of the Fathers voted simply for all;f 
neither was there any limitation at all added to this 
decree of the council. This very decree has been 
since strongly confirmed by the council of Trent,J 
which appointed also certain persons to take a review 
of the books and censures, and to make a report of 
them to the company, " to the end that there might 
be a separation made between the good grain of 
Christian verity and the tares of strange doctrines :"§ 
that is, in plain terms, that they might suppress in all 
kinds of books whatever relished not well with the 
taste of the Church of Rome. But these fathers, 



.10. 
-: i: >pto EL. I*. D. Alexin, episoopo 

. qui dixit, Placere de novia operibus, qod autem de anti- 

iciL Trid, Decreto <le Edit, el nan Sacror. lii>r. 

Quo faciliua ipe inas doctrinas, tanquam 

mania, tianse veritatis tritico separare. — I . is. 

9 



94 CORRUPTIONS IN THE 

having not the leisure themselves to look to this pious 
work, appointed certain commissaries who should give 
an account of this matter to the Pope :* whence, 
afterwards it came to pass, that first Pope Pius IV. 
and afterwards Sixtus V. and Clement VIII. pub- 
lished certain rules and indexes of such authors and 
books as they thought fit should be either quite abol- 
ished or purged only, and have given such strict order 
for the printing of books, as that in those countries 
where this order is observed, there is little danger 
that ever anything should be published, that is either 
contrary to the doctrine of the Church of Rome, or 
which advances anything in favour of their adver- 
saries. 

All these instructions, which are too long to be in- 
serted here, may be seen at the end of the council of 
Trent where they are usually given in full. To en- 
force these rules they have put forth their Indices 
JExpurgatorii (as they call them ;) namely, that of 
the Low Countries, and of Spain and other places; 
where these men sit in judgment upon all" kinds of 
books, erasing and altering, as they please, periods, 
chapters, and often whole treatises, and that too in 
the works of those men who for the most part were 
born, and educated, and died also, in the communion 
of their own Church. 

If the Church, eight or nine hundred years since, 
had razors sharp as these men now have, it is then a 
vain thing for us to search any higher what the judg- 
ment of the primitive Christians was on any particu- 
lar point: for whatsoever it was, it could not have 
escaped the hands of such masters. And if the ancient 
Church had not heretofore any such institution as this, 
why then do we, who pretend to be such observers of 
antiquity, practise these novelties ? I know very 
well that those men make profession of reforming 

* Concil. Trident. Sess. 25, clecreto de Indice libr. 



WRITINGS OF THE FATHERS. 95 

only the writings of the moderns: but who sees not 
that this is but a cloak which they throw over them- 
selves, lest they should be accused as guilty of the 
Same cruelty that Jupiter is among the poets, for hav- 
ing behaved himself so insolently to his own father? 
Those pieces which they erase so scrupulously from 
the books of the moderns, are the cause of the greater 
mischief to themselves, when they are found in the 
writings of the ancients, as sometimes they are. For 
what a senseless thing is it to leave them in where 
they hurt most, and to erase them where they do little 
harm ? 

The inquisition at Madrid* omits these words in 
the index of Athanasius, "Adorari solius Dei est;" 
(that is, God alone is to be worshipped:) Ouxouv dsov 
i'lzc f&vou to TtpoaxuveicOcurf and yet, notwithstand- 
ing, these words are still expressly found in the text 
of Athanasius. The same Father saith, " that there 
were some other books, besides those which he had 
before set down, which, in truth, were not of the canon, 
and which the Fathers had ordained should be read to 
those who were newly come into the Christian com- 
munion, and desired to be instructed in the word of 
piety." 'Eari xai kzsoa ftcfiXta zoozlov igcodev, o ? j 
xavovt£o/jteva ftev, ztzoruoav^a oe napa tlov nozepam 
dpofcpanrxeaOcu zocc doze npoaep^ofievocc: xcu ftoufajnevotc 
xazijyuadcu top euaeftecac koyoy.f 

They reckoned in this number the Wisdom of Solo- 
mon, Ecclesiasticus, Judith, Esther, Tobit, and some 
others. Nevertheless these very censors erased, in the 
index of Athanasius's works, those words which affirm 
that the said books are not at all canonical. In the 
index of Augustine they erased these words: " Christ 
hath given the sign of his body:" which yet are evi- 
dently to be seen in the text of this Father, in his 

Sandoval in Uhanas. Ind. 1 . 
f Athana J Id. in Frag, et Fest. 



96 CORRUPTIONS IN THE 

book against Adimantus, chap. 12.* They erased, in 
like manner, these words: "Augustine accounted the 
Eucharist necessary to be administered to infants :" 
"which opinion of Augustine is very frequently found 
expressed either in these very words, or the like, 
throughout his works, as we shall see hereafter. They 
likewise erased these words: "We ought not to build 
temples to angels :" and yet the very text of Augus- 
tine says, "If we should erect a temple of wood or of 
stone to any of the holy angels, should we not be 
anathematized ?"f 

This is the practice of the censors, both in the Low 
Countries and in Spain, in many other particulars, 
which we shall not here notice. Now if you cut off 
such sentences as these from the indexes of these holy 
Fathers, why do you not as well erase them from the 
text also? Or if you leave them in the one, why do 
you blot them out in the other ? What can the mean- 
ing be of so strange a way of proceeding in such wise 
men? Yet who sees not the reason of it? The sen- 
tences which these men thus boldly and rudely correct, 
are as displeasing to them in the ancients as in the 
moderns ; and where they may safely do it they ex- 
punge them, as well from the one as the other. But 
this they dare not do openly, for fear of incurring 
scandal, which they are willing to avoid ; because if 
they should deal so unceremoniously, and take such 
liberty with antiquity, they would destroy that respect 
which all people bear towards it; which being a matter 
that very nearly concerns themselves, it is a special 
point of wisdom in them, carefully to preserve its re- 
putation. But in lashing the poor moderns, who have 
made indexes to all the works of the Fathers, they 

* Id. in August. 

f Nonnc si templum alicui sancto angelo excellentissimo de lignis 
et lapidibus faceremus, anatliematizemur a veritate Christi, et ab 
ecclesia Dei, &c. — Infr. I. 1. c. 8. Ind. Exp. Sandov. in August, 
contr. Maxim, lib. 



WRITINGS OF THE FATHERS. 97 

Sfive their credit, and do their business too ; ruining 
the opinions which they hate by chastising the one, 
and Btill preserving the venerable esteem of antiquity, 
which they cannot exist without, by sparing the other. 
I cannot however see why Bertram, a priest, who 
lived in the time of the emperor Charles the Bald, 
which is about seven hundred and fifty years since, 
should be classed among the moderns: and yet his 
book, u De Corpore et Sanguine Domini,'' is abso- 
lutely, and without any limitation, forbidden to be 
read, in the index of the council of Trent, in the letter 
B, among the authors of the second classis, as they 
call them. But the censors of the Low Countries have 
dealt with him more gently, shall I say, or rather more 
cruelly; not quite taking In3 life away, but only maim- 
ing him in the several parts of his body, and leaving 
him in the like sad condition w T ith Deiphobus in the 
poet : — 

"Lacerum crudeliter ora, 
Ova manugque ambaa populataque tempora, raptis 
Aiiribus, ct truncal inkonesto vulnere nares." 

For they have cut off, with one single dash of their 
pen* two long passages, consisting each of them of 
twenty-eight or thirty lines, and which are large 
enough to make up a very considerable part of a small 
treatise, such as his. 

That the reader may the better judge of the busi- 
-. 1 shall here extract one of these passages entire 
a- it 18 : 

iV We ought further to consider (says Bertram, speak- 
ing of the holy Eucharist) that in this bread is repre- 
sented not only the body of Christ, but the body of 
the people also that believe in Him. And hence it is 
that it is made up of many several grainsof wheat, 
because the whole body of believing people is united 
together, and made into one, by the word of Christ. 
And therefore as it is by a mystery that we receive 
this bread for the body of Christ, in like manner it is 



98 CORRUPTIONS IN TIIE 

by a mystery also, that the members of the people 
believing in Christ are here figured unto us. As this 
bread is called the body of believers, not corporeally 
but spiritually ; so is the body of Christ also neces- 
sarily to be understood as represented here, not cor- 
poreally but spiritually. In like manner is it in the 
wine, which is called the blood of Christ, and with 
which it is ordained that water be mixed; it being 
forbidden to offer the one without the other : because 
as the head cannot subsist without the body, nor the 
body without the head, in like manner neither can 
the people be without Christ, nor Christ without the 
people. So that in this sacrament the water repre- 
sents the image of the people. If then the wine, 
after it is consecrated by the office of ministers, be 
corporeally changed into the blood of Christ, of 
necessity then must the water also be changed corpo- 
really into the body of the believing people : because 
that where there is but one only, and the same sancti- 
fication, there can be but one and the same operation ; 
and where the reason is equal, the mystery- also that 
follows it is equal. But as for the water, we see that 
there is no such corporeal change wrought in it: it 
therefore follows that neither in the wine is there any 
corporeal transmutation. Whatsoever then of the 
body of the people is signified unto us, by the water, 
is taken spiritually : it follows therefore necessarily 
that we must, in like manner, take spiritually whatso- 
ever the wine represents unto us of the blood of Christ. 
Again, those things, which differ among themselves, 
are not the same. Now the body of Christ which 
died, and was raised up to life again, dies no more, 
having become immortal; and death having no more 
power over it, it is eternal and free from further suf- 
fering. But this, which is consecrated in the Church, 
is temporal, not eternal ; corruptible, not free from 
corruption; in its journey, and not in its native coun- 
try. These two things therefore are different, one 



WRITINGS OF THE FATHERS. 99 

from the other, and consequently cannot be one and 
the same thing. And if they be not one and the same 
thing, how can any man say that this is the real body 
and real blood of Christ? If it be the body of 
Christ, and if it may be truly said that this body of 
Christ is really and truly the body of Christ — the real 
body of Christ being incorruptible and impassible, and 
therefore eternal ; consequently this body of Christ, 
which is consecrated in the Church, must of necessity 
also be both incorruptible and eternal. But it can- 
not be denied but that it doth corrupt, seeing it is cut 
into small pieces and distributed (to the communi- 
cants,) who bruise it very small with their teeth, and 
so take it down into their body."* 

* Coneiderandum qnoque, quod in pane illo non soltim corpus 
Chvisti. vcvum etiam corpus in eum credentis populi figuretur: 
unde multia frumenti granis conficitur, quia corpus populi creden- 
tis multis per verba Christi fidelibus augmentatur, (al. coagmenta- 
tur. ) Qua de re stent mysterio panis ille Christi corpus accipitur: 
sic etiam in mysterio membra populi credentis in Christum inti- 
mantur. Et sicut non corporaliter, sed spiritualiter panis ille cre- 
dentium corpus dicitur : sic quoque Christi corpus non corporaliter 
sed spiritualiter necesse est intelligatur. Sic et in vino, qui san- 
guis Christi dicitur. aqua misceri jubetur, nee uiuun sine altcro 
permittitur offerri, quia nee populua sine Christo, nee Christna 
populo, sicut nee caput sine corpore, vel corpus sine eapite 
valet existere. [gitur si vinum illud, sanctifieatuiu per ministrorum 
officium, in Christi sanguinem corporaliter convertitur, aqua quo- 
iter admixta est, in Banguinem populi credentis ne- 
eorporaliter convertatur. I'bi namque una sanctificatio 
qaenter opera tio; et ubi par ratio, par qnoque conse- 
quitur mysterium. At ndemus in aqua secundum corpus nihil 
rersum, cousequenter ergo et in vino nihil corporaliter 
Accipitur Bpiritualiter quicquid in aqua de populi cor- 
ificatur; accipiatur ergo nee Bpiritualiter quic- 

quid in vino de Chi nine intimatur. Item, quae a Be diffe- 

runt, idem non Bunt: corpus Christi, quod mortuum est, et resur- 
Lmmortale {actum jam non moritur, et mors 1 illi ultra non 
inabitur, eeternum est, .'pun non passibile. Hoc autem, quod 
in <■■ elebratur temporale est, non eeternum ; corruptibile 

non Lncorruptibile, in via eat, non in patria. Differunt igitur 
ter non sunl idem. Quod si non Bunt idem, quomodo 
'.i corpus Christi dicitur, et vein- Banguis '.' Si enim coi 
Christi est, et hoc dicitur vere, quia corpus Christi in reritate cor- 



100 CORRUPTIONS IN THE 

Thus Bertram. His other passage, which is longer 
yet than this, is of the same nature ; but I shall not 
here set it down, to avoid prolixity.* 

Now these gentlemen, finding that the language of 
both these passages did very ill accord with the doc- 
trine of Transubstantiation, thought it the best way 
to erase them entirely: for fear lest, coming to the 
people's knowledge, they might imagine that there 
had been Sacramentarians in the Church ever since 
the time of Charles the Bald. 

Then, whoever you may be that think yourself 
bound to search the writings of the Fathers for the 
doctrine of salvation, learn from this artifice of theirs, 
and those many other cheats which we, to their great 
mortification, are now investigating, what an extreme 
desire they have to keep from us the opinion and sense 
of the ancients in all those particulars where they ever 
so little contradict their own doctrines; and remem- 
bering moreover, how every day they have had, and 
still have, such opportunities of doing what they please 
in this way, you cannot doubt, but that they have 
struck deep enough where there was cause. These 
blows of theirs, together with the alterations and 
changes that time, the malice of heretics, the innocent 
and pious frauds of the primitive Church, and the 
sentiments of the later Christians, have long since 
produced, have rendered the writings and venerable 

pus Christi est, et si in veritate corpus Christi, incorruptibile est, 
et impassibile, ac per hoc seternum. Hoc igitur corpus Christi 
quod agitur in ecclesia necesse est ut incorruptibile sit, et ster- 
num. Seel negari non potest corrumpi, quod per partes commuta- 
tum dispartitur ad sumenclum, et dentibus conimolitum in corpus 
trajicitur. — Bertram. Presbyt. lib. de Corp. et Sang. Dom. 

* Non male aut inconsulte omittantur igitur omnia hsec a fine 
paginse: 'Considerandum quoque quod in pane illo,' &c. ; usque ad 
illud multo post, < Sed aliud est quod exteriu? geritur,' &c. in ead. 
pag. Et seq. pag. omnia ilia sequentia, 'Item quse idem sunt, unci 
definitione comprehenduntur,' &c; usque ad illud, 'Hoc namque 
quod agitur in via, spiritualiter,' &c. seq. pag. — Index Expurg. Belg, 
an. 1571, in Bertramo. 



WRITINGS OF THE FATHERS. 101 

monuments of antiquity, so jumbled and confused, that 
it will be a very difficult matter for any man to make 
a clear and perfect discovery of those things which so 
many different parties have endeavoured to conceal 
from us. 



CHAPTER V. 

Reason V. — The writings of the Fathers are difficult to be under- 
stood, on account of the languages and idioms in which they 
wrole, and the manner of the writing, which is encumbered with 
rhetorical nourishes and logical subtleties, and with terms used 
in a sense far different from what they now bear. 

If any man, either by the mere light of his own mind, 
or by the assistance and direction of some able and 
faithful hand, shall at length be able, as by the help 
of the clew of which the poets speak, to extricate him- 
self happily from these two labyrinths, and to find any 
pieces of the ancients that are not only legitimate, 
but also entire and uncorrupt; certainly that man has 
just reason to rejoice at his own good fortune, and to 
give God hearty thanks. For I must needs confess 
that it is no very small satisfaction to a man to*have 
the opportunity of conversing with those illustrious 
persons of ages passed, and to learn of them what 
their opinions were, and to compare our own with 
theirs : 

"Yerasque audire et reddere voces. " 

But yet this I dare confidently pronounce, that if he 
would know from them what their sense and opinions 
have truly been, as to the differences now in agitation, 
he will find that he is now but at the very beginning 
and entrance of his business; and that there remain 
behind many more difficulties to be overcome in his 
passage, than he has yet grappled with. One of the 



102 DIFFICULTIES OF COMPREHENDING 

two disagreeing parties refusing the Scriptures for the 
judge of controversies by reason of its obscurity, lays 
this for a ground, (and indeed rationally enough) that 
no obscure books are proper for the decision of con- 
troversies. 

Now I do not know why a man may not, with 
as much reason, say of most of the writings of the 
Fathers, as Jerome did of some certain expositors of 
some parts of the Scriptures, " That it was more trou- 
ble to understand them well, than those very things 
which they took upon them to expound:"* that is to 
say, that it is much harder rightly to understand them 
than the Scriptures themselves. For a man fully to 
comprehend them, it is in the first place necessary 
that he have perfect and exact skill in those languages 
wherein they wrote; that is to say in the Greek and 
Latin, which are the tongues in which most of them 
wrote. As for those of the Fathers who have written 
either in Syriac or Arabic, or Ethiopian, or the like 
vulgar tongues of their own, whose writings perhaps 
would be as useful to us in the discovery of the opi- 
nions of the ancient Church as any others; we have 
not, that I know, any of those monuments now pub- 
licly to be seen abroad, but only some translations of 
them in Greek or Latin: as, for instance, the works 
of St. Ephrem, (if at least those books, which go 
abroad under his name, be truly his:) and the " Com- 
ment, de Paradiso" of Moses Bar-Cephas, translated 
into Latin by Masius, and perhaps some few others. 

I know very well, that for the most part, men trust 
to the translations of the Fathers, whether they be in 
Latin or in vulgar languages; and that the world is 
now come to that pass, that people will not hesitate 
to take upon them to judge of the Greek Fathers, 

* Plerisque nimium disertis accidere solet, ut major sit intelli- 
gentise difficultas in eorum explanationibus, quam in iis quae expla- 
nare conantur. — Hier. ep. 139. ad Cypr. 



THE LANGUAGES OF THE FATHERS. 103 

without having (at least, that can be perceived out 
of their writings,) any competent knowledge of the 
Greek tongue,* which cannot in my judgment be ac- 
counted anything less than the highest presumption. 
The thing is clear enough of itself, that to be able to 
reach the conceptions and sense of a man, especially 
in matters of importance, it is most necessary that we 
understand the language he delivers himself in, his 
terms, and the manner of their coherence ; there being 
in every particular language a certain peculiar force, 
and power of significancy, which can scarcely ever be 
so preserved in translation but that it will lose in the 
passage something of its natural lustre and vigour, 
however learned and faithful the interpreter may be. 
But this, which is very useful indeed in all other cases, 
is most necessary in the particular business before us, 
by reason of the little care and fidelity that we find in 
the translations of the greatest part of the interpreters 
of the Fathers, whether ancient or modern. 

We have before seen how Ruffinus, and even Jerome 
himself, have laboured in this particular; and long 
after them, Anastasius also, in his translation of the 
seventh council, who, notwithstanding in his preface 
to the eighth gives us this for a most infallible rule; 
namely, that whatsoever is found in his translation is 
true and legitimate, and, on the contrary, whatsoever 
the Greeks have said, either more or less, is supposi- 
titious and forged. 

If all the other interpreters of the councils and 
Fathers had been men of the same temper that Anas- 
is here would have us believe him to be, we might 
then indeed very well lay by the Greek text, and con- 
tent ourselves with such dull Latin as he has furnished 
us with in his translation. But the mischief of it is, 
that all the world docs not believe this testimony which 
he has given of himself; and that, although he has buch 

* Bell&rmine. 



104 DIFFICULTIES OF COMPREHENDING 

a special gift in valuing his own translation above the 
original; yet this will hardly ever be allowed to other 
translators, especially the modern, who, having been 
men that have been for the most part carried away by 
their affection to their own party, he must needs be a 
very weak man that should trust to them in this case, 
and rely upon what they say. 

Whosoever hath yet a mind to be further satisfied how 
far these men's translations are to be trusted, let him 
but take the pains to compare the Greek preface to 
Origen's books against Celsus, with the Latin transla- 
tion of Ghristophorus Persona; and, if he please, he 
will do w T ell to run over some part of the books them- 
selves; and if he is desirous of exposing himself to the 
laughter of the Protestants, let him but produce, upon 
the honest word of this worthy interpreter, this passage 
out of the fifth book for the Invocation of Angels : — 
" We ought to send up our vows, and all our prayers 
and thanksgivings to God, by the angel who has been 
set over the rest by him who is the Bishop, the living 
Word, and God :"* in which words he seems ta intimate 
that Jesus Christ hath appointed some one of the 
angels to hear our prayers, and that by him we ought 
to present them to God; whereas Origen says the direct 
contrary ; namely, " That we ought to send up to God, 
who is above all things, all our demands, prayers, and 
requests, by the great High Priest, the living Word, 
and God, who is above all the angels." Ilaaav jiev 
yap oeYjGtv, xoi izaoav Trpoaeoyrjv^ xat ivzeu^tv xae 
ebyapcGrcav dvajzepLTczeov zw enc Ttaat dea>, dca zoo inc 
Tiavzaiv dyyeltov apycepetat;, epapoyoo Xojoo^ xac deou.'f 

You have a sufficient discovery also of the affec- 
tions of translators, who many times make their 

* Vota namque et preces omnes, et gratiarum insuper actiones 
ad Deum, sunt per Angelum transmittendse, qui per Pontificem, et 
vivens verbum, et Deum, angelis prsefectus est ceteris. — Origen. 
Christoph. Persona, lib. 6. contr. Celsum.. 

f Orig. contr. Cels. 1. 5. p. 239. 



THE LANGUAGES OF THE FATHERS. 105 

authors speak more than they meant, in Jo. Christo- 
phorson'a translation of the ecclesiastical historians : 
as likewise in most of the translators of these later 
times, excepting only some very few of the more 
moderate sort. But we shall not need to insist any 
longer on this particular, which has been sufficiently 
proved already by the several parties of both sides 
discovering the falseness of their adversaries' transla- 
tions, as every man must know who is any way con- 
versant with that kind of writings, where you shall 
meet with nothing more frequent than these mutual 
reprehensions of each other. 

Now, in the midst of such distraction, and contra- 
riety of judgments, how can a man possibly assure 
himself that he hath the true sense and meaning of 
the Fathers, unless he hear them speak in their own 
language, and have it from their own mouth ? I shall 
here lay down then, for a most sure ground and un- 
deniable maxim — 

That to be able rightly to apprehend the judgment 
and sense of the Fathers, it is necessary that we first 
understand the language they write in ; and that too, 
not slightly and superficially, but exactly and fully ; 
there being in all languages certain peculiar terms 
and idioms, familiarly used by the learned, which no 
man shall ever be able to understand thoroughly and 
clearly, that has but a superficial knowledge of the 
said languages, and has not dived even to the depth 
and very bottom of them. If you would see how 
necessary the knowledge of an author's language is, 
and how prejudicial the w T ant of it, do but turn to 
that passage of Theodoret, where, speaking of the 
Eucharist, he saith thus: — Oude yap fieva zov ScfeatTftov 
70. 'nazr/jj. aufiftola ttjc oixeeac lEtoraxat (/"jrrscoc, u.vsu 
yap i,-' r^c Ttpozepaz <>'jf7>az, xat to') (7yj h ua7o:, xat to') 
uoooci* The Protestants, and all their adversaries 

* Theod. Dial. 2. 

10 



106 DIFFICULTIES OF COMPREHENDING 

(before cardinal Perron,) interpret this place thus : 
M The mystical symbols, after consecration, do not 
leave their proper nature ; for they continue in their 
first substance, figure, and form." Now what can be 
said more expressly against transubstantiation ? But 
yet the above named cardinal, having, it seems, con- 
sulted those old friends of his among the gramma- 
rians, who had heretofore taught him, that [icacuecv 
signified to smoke, or evaporate,* will needs persuade 
us, that this passage is to be interpreted otherwise ; 
namely, that " the signs in the Eucharist continue in 
the figure and form of their first substance :" which 
would be tacitly and indirectly to allow transubstan- 
tiation. Now it is true that this exposition is con- 
trary, not only to the design and purpose of the 
author, but to the usual way of speaking also among 
the Greeks. But in case you had not exact skill in 
the language, how should you be able to judge of this 
interpretation? especially seeing it put upon you with 
so much confidence and unparalleled boldness, accord- 
ing to the ordinary custom of this doctor, who never 
affirms or recommends anything to us more confi- 
dently, than when it is most doubtful and uncertain. 
It is out of the same rare and unheard-of grammar, 
that the said cardinal has elsewhere taken upon him 
to give us that notable correction of his, of the inscrip- 
tion of an epistle written by the emperor Oonstantine 
to Miltiades, bishop of Rome, sec down in the tenth 
book of Eusebius's Ecclesiastical History, (c. 5,) read- 
ing it thus : " Constantinus Augustus, to Miltiades, 
bishop of the Romans, wisheth long time or long 
opportunity :" whereas all copies, both manuscript 
and printed, have it, " Constantinus Augustus, to 
Miltiades, bishop of the Romans, and to Mark," 
(Kcovazavztvoc, Zefiaarotz, McXrcaorj incaxoTcw Po)[xaccoVj 

* Perron Kepi, p. 709. Answ. to the 2 Instit. where he takes 
this word to signify to smoke; whereas the true signification is, to 
pollute, or defile. 



THE LANGUAGES OF THE FATHERS. 107 

xac Mapxtv:)* fearing, I suppose, lest some might 
accuse the emperor of not understanding himself 
aright, in here making this Mark companion to the 
Tope, who in all things ought to march without a 
compeer. 

I should never have done, if I should undertake to 
notice all those other passages, in which the cardinal 
has used the same arts, in wresting the words of the 
ancients to a wrong sense, which otherwise would 
seem to favour the Protestants : whence it may plainly 
appear, how necessary a knowledge of the languages 
is, for the right understanding of the sense of the 
Fathers. So that, in my judgment, the result of all 
this will clearly be, that, as we have before said, it is 
a difficult thing to come to the right understanding of 
them. For who knows not w T hat pains it will cost a 
man to attain to a perfect knowledge of these two 
tongues ; what abilities are necessarily required in 
this case ? A happy memory, a lively conception, a 
good education, continual application, and much and 
diligent reading ; all which very rarely meet in any 
one person. The truth of this is clearly proved, by 
the continual debates and disputes among those who, 
though they have referred the judgment of their differ- 
ences to the decision of the Fathers, do yet notwith- 
standing still implead each other at their bar, and 
cannot possibly be brought to any agreement what- 
ever. 

Many of the writers of the Church of Rome, object 
against the Protestants, as an argument of the obscu- 
rity of the Scriptures, the controversies that are be- 
twixt themselves and the Lutherans, against the Cal- 
rinists, as regards the Eucharist; and of the Calvinists 

Ton, in hh vys we ought to read it thus: KwTTotvr/voc 

•T/7(tiT« Vay.aiat,' Ki.ip'.V fiUUUOf. But it BOOmS DQL0r6 

thai we Bhould read, ku M^ kmi, and to Meroclea, who 
it time bishop of Milan, erred byOptatus, lib. J, 



108 DIFFICULTIES OF COMPREHENDING 

against the Lutherans and the Arminians, in the 
point of predestination. If this argument of theirs 
be of any force at all, who sees not that it clearly 
proves that which we maintain in this particular? 
For the Greeks and the Latins, who both of them 
make profession of submitting themselves to the au- 
thority of the Fathers, and to plead all their causes 
before them, have not as yet been able to come to any 
agreement. Do but observe the passages between 
these two, at the council of Florence,* where the 
strongest and ablest champions on both sides were 
brought into the lists ; how they wrangled out whole 
sessions, about the exposition of a certain short pas- 
sage in the council at Ephesus, and some similar one 
out of Epiphanius,f Basil, J and others : and after all 
their disputes, how clearly and powerfully soever each 
party vaunted that the business was carried on, they 
have yet left us the sense of the Fathers much more 
dark and obscure than it was before ; their contests 
having rendered the business much more perplexed. 
Each side has indeed very much the appearance of 
reason in what they urged against their adversaries, 
but very little solidity in what they have said seve- 
rally for themselves. Certainly the Latins, who are 
thought to have had the better cause of the two, (and 
who, upon a certain passage of Basil adduced by them- 
selves, Ob Aafjiftavojusv Ttva napa too nvsupaTOZ, ojarrep 
rcapa zoo oloo to 7tveopa,§ triumphed as if they had 
gained the day — baffling and affronting the Greeks in 
a very disdainful manner, and giving them very harsh 
language,) used, notwithstanding, such an odd kind 
of logic, to persuade the receiving of the exposition 
which they gave, as that even at this day, in the last 
edition of Basil's works, printed at Paris, and revised 

* Concil. Flor. Sess. 5, de Decreto quodam Concil. Eph. Act. 6, 
Sess. 11 et 12. 
f Concil. Flor. Sess. 18, 20. % Ibid. Sess. 21. 

\ Ibid, locus Basil. 



THE LANGUAGES OF THE FATHERS. 100 

by Pronto 1>UC«U8,* the Latin translation follows, in 
this particular, Dot their exposition, but that of the 
Greek schismatics. 

Some of the Protestants having also had the same 
success in some particular points controverted betwixt 
themselves, it lies open to every man's observation, 
how much obscurity there is found in the passages 
cited by both sides. If Tertullian was of the opinion 
of the Church of Rome, in the point concerning the 
Eucharist, what could he have uttered more dark and 
obscure than this passage of his, in his fourth book 
against Marcion ; " Christ having taken bread, and 
distributed it to his disciples, made it his body, in 
saying, This is my body ; that is to say, The figure of 
my body."f If Augustine held transubstantiation, 
what can the meaning be of these words of his, "The 
Lord hesitated not to say, This is my body, when he 
delivered the sign of his body?"J 

If these passages, and an infinite number of the 
like, do really and truly mean that which Cardinal 
Perron pretends they do, then was there never any 
thing of obscurity either in the riddles of the Theban 
Sphinx, or in the oracles of the Sybils. 

If you look on the other side, you will meet with 
some other passages in the Fathers, which seem to 
speak point blank against the Protestants ; as, for 
example, where they say expressly, " That the bread 
changes its nature; and that by the almighty power 
of God, it becomes the flesh of the Word:" and the 
like. And so in all the controversies between them, 
they produce such passages as these, both on the one 



sil. in Oi T. Baptis. p. 511, torn. 1. Edit. Taris. 

L618. 
panem, et distributum discipulis, corpus simm ilium 
us meum, dicendo, Id est, Figura corporis mei. 
— T . Mare, I. 1. c. \0. 

i >mino£ dubitavit dicere, Hoc est corpus meum, 
-ui. — Aug. rout. AdimanU c. \1. 

10 ■ 



110 DIFFICULTIES OF COMPREHENDING 

side and on the other : some whereof seem to be irre- 
concilable to the sense of the Church of Rome, and 
some others to the sense of their adversaries. 

If cardinal Perron, and those other sublime wits of 
both parties, can have the confidence to affirm that 
they find no difficulty at all in these particulars, we 
must needs think that either they speak this merely 
out of bravado, setting a good face upon a bad mat- 
ter ; or else, that both the wits and eyesight of all the 
rest of the world are marvellously dull and feeble, in 
finding nothing but darkness, where these men see 
nothing but light. Yet for all this, if there be not 
obscurity in these writings of the Fathers, and that 
very great too, how comes it to pass, that even these 
very men find themselves ever and anon so puzzled to 
discover the meaning of them ? How comes it to 
pass, that they are fain to use so many words, and 
make trial of so many tricks and devices, for the 
clearing of them ? Whence proceeds it, that so often, 
for fear of not being able to satisfy their readers, 
they are forced to cry down either the authors or the 
pieces out of which their adversaries produce their 
testimonies? 

What strange sentences and passages of authors are 
those that require more time and trouble in elucida- 
ting them, than in deciding the controversy itself, and 
which multiply differences rather than determine them ; 
oftentimes serving as a covert and retreating place to 
both parties? Thus the sense and meaning of these 
words is debated: " This is my body." For the ex- 
plaining of them, there is brought this passage out of 
Tertullian ; and that other out of Augustine. Now I 
would have any man speak in his conscience what he 
thinks, whether or not these words are not as clear, or 
clearer, than those passages which they quote from 
these Fathers, as they are explained by the different 
parties. I desire, reader, no other judge than your- 
self, whosoever you are ; only provided that you will 



THE LANGUAGES OF THE FATHERS. Ill 

but vouchsafe to read and examine that which is now 
said upon these places, and consider the strange turn- 
ings and contortions that they make us take, to bring 
us to the right sense and meaning of them. In a 
word, if the most able men that exist did not find 
themselves extremely puzzled and perplexed in dis- 
tinguishing the genuine writings of the Fathers from 
the spurious, it is not likely that the censors of the 
Low Countries, who are all choice and select men, 
should be obliged to show us so ill an example of 
finding a way to help ourselves, when the authority of 
the ancients is strongly pressed against us by our ad- 
versaries, as they do, in excusing the expressions of 
the Fathers sometimes, by some handsomely contrived 
invention, and in putting some convenient probable 
sense upon them.* 

What has been said, I am confident, is sufficient to 
convince any reasonable man of the truth of the asser- 
tion, that it is a very difficult matter to understand the 
sense and opinions of the Fathers by their books. 
But that we may leave no doubt behind us, let us 
briefly consider some few of the principal causes of 
this difficulty. 

Certainly the Fathers, having been wise men, all of 
them both spoke and wrote to be understood ; inso- 
much that, having both the will and the ability to do 
it, it seems very strange that they should not be able 
t<> attain the end they aimed at. But we must here 
call to mind what w T e have said before, that these con- 
troversies of ours having not in their time sprung up, 
they had no occasion, nor was it their design, either 
to <peak or write anything respecting them. For 
these -ages raised as few doubts in matters of religion 
M they could. Besides their times furnished them 

* Plmimofl in Catholioie Teteribue erroree excogitate commento 
perss una, el commodum Lie Bensum affingimus, dam oppo- 

nuntar in disputationibus, anl in conftictibus com adversarii 
Belg. ut B 



112 DIFFICULTIES OF COMPREHENDING 

with sufficient matter of dispute, in points which were 
then in agitation, without so much as thinking of those 
of ours now on foot. And they have very clearly de- 
livered their sense in all those controversies on which 
they have entered. Even Tertullian himself, who is 
the most obscure amongst them all, has notwithstand- 
ing delivered himself so clearly in the disputes between 
him and Marcion and others, that there is no place 
left to doubt what his opinions were on the points dis- 
cussed. I am therefore fully persuaded that if they 
had lived in our times, or if the present controversies 
had been agitated in their times, they would have de- 
livered their judgment upon them very plainly and 
expressly. But seeing that they have not touched 
upon them, or only slightly, and as they came acci- 
dentally in their way, rather than from any design, 
we are not to think it strange, if we find them not to 
have spoken decidedly, and given their sense clearly 
as to these disputes of ours. As any man may easily 
observe in the ordinary course, those things that happen 
without design are never clear and full, but ambiguous 
and doubtful; and oftentimes contrary, perhaps, either 
to the sense or the sentiment of the person from whom 
they proceeded. Thus before the springing up of that 
pernicious doctrine of Arius, who so much troubled the 
ancient Church, there was very little said of the eter- 
nity of the divine nature of Jesus Christ : or if the 
Fathers said anything at all of it, it was only by the 
way, and not by design : and hence it is also that what 
they have delivered in this particular, is as obscure 
and difficult to be rightly understood, as those other 
passages of theirs that relate to our present contro- 
versies. 

Do but explain the meaning, if you can, of this* 
passage of Justin Martyr, in his treatise against Try- 
phon ; where he saith that " The God which appeared 
to Moses and to the Patriarchs, was the Son and not 



THE LANGUAGES OF THE FATHERS. 113 

the Father;"* inasmuch as the Father is not capable 
of locomotion, neither can he properly be said to as- 
cend or descend: and that "No man ever saw the 
Father, but only heard his Son, and his angel, who is 
also God, by the will of the Father." Obri ouv 
'Aftpaa/JL) o : J7e faaax, ouzs 'laxtoft, ours d/M)c dvOpamwv 
side zoh naxepa xou dppyTOV xoptov zcov naurwv durXaxz, 
xai aurou too Xpcaroo^ a// ixscvov, rov xaza frouXyv 
njv ixetvou xou 6sov o^ra, u\ov auzou, xac dyysAov, ix 
too bnypGrecv rj yiHopcfl auzou, &c.f 

These words of his cannot be very well explained, 
without allowing a difference of nature in the Father 
and the Son; which were to establish Arianism. 

Observe what Tertullian also says, in this particular, 
namely, "That the Father, bringing him forth out of 
himself, made his Son ;"J and, "That the Father is 
the whole substance, and the Son a portion, and a 
derivation of that whole ;"§ and many other similar 
passages, which you meet with here and there, in that 
excellent piece of his, written against Praxeas, which 
will scarcely be reconciled to good sense. In like 
manner does Dionysius Alexandrinus call the Son, 
"The work, or workmanship, of the Father:" Ilocrjpa 
xac yzvrpov eivcu ~ov olov tod deou:\\ which are the very 
terms that were so much quarrelled about in Arius. 
The eighty Fathers, who condemned Paulus Samosa- 
tenus, bishop of Antioch, said expressly, "That the 
Son is not of the same essence with the Father:"^ 
that is to say, they in express terms denied the 

* Just contr. Trvj.li. p. 283, et 35(3, edit. Paris. 1616. 

| [bid. p. 

J Quem ex semetipeo proferendo, Filium fecit. — Tertul. lib. 2, 

. Marc. r. 27. 
j Pater tota substantia est, \\Yw\< verb derivatio totius et portio. 
— Id. passim in to op 

fill Athanas. ep. de fide J.>i<>n. Alex. Vide et 
. 11. t. 2. p. 802. 
r Oct : : !.* : 'iin respuerunl ra o/uocuertof. — Athan. q>. <lc 

. Arim. > fol. 'J7. 



114 DIFFICULTIES OF COMPREHENDING 

bfiooiMJtov, or consubstantiality of the Son, which was 
afterwards established in the council of Nice. 

It would be no difficult matter to make good the 
assertion in reference to all the other disputes that 
have arisen in the Church against Macedonius, Pela- 
gius, Nestorius, Eutyches, and the Monothelites ; that 
the Fathers have spoken very obscurely of these mat- 
ters, before the controversies were started; as persons 
that spoke only incidentally thereof, and not with 
previous design. It is now long since that Jerome 
said, " That before Arius, that impudent devil, ap- 
peared in the world, the Fathers had said many things 
innocently, and without taking much heed of their 
words, as they might have done ; and indeed some 
things that can hardly escape the cavils of wrangling 
spirits."* This has also been observed by some of 
the most learned among the moderns; as cardinal 
Perron, f and also the Jesuit Petavius (a man highly 
esteemed by those of his own party) who, writing upon 
Epiphanius, and endeavouring to clear Lucian the 
Martyr from the suspicion of being an Arian and a 
Samosatenian, says, " That in this question respecting 
the Trinity, as also in various others, it has so hap- 
pened that most of the ancient Fathers, who wrote 
before the rise of those particular heresies in the 
Church, have in their writings let fall here and there 
such things as are not very consonant to the rule of 
the orthodox faith."! 

* Vel certe antequam in Alexandria quasi dsemonium meridia- 
num Arius nasceretur, innocenter quaedam, et minus caute locuti 
sunt, et quae non possint perversoruni kominum calumniam decli- 
nare. — liter. Apol. 2, contr. Ruff. 

f Perron. Repl. Obs. 4. c. 5. 

% Quod idem plerisque veterum Patrum, cum in hoc negotio (Tri- 
nitatis,) turn in aliis fidei Christianse capitibus, usu venit, ut ante 
errorum atque heresean quibus ea sigillatim oppugnabantur, origi- 
nem, nondum satis illustrata et patefacta rei veritate, qusedam 
Bcriptie suis asperserint, quae cum orthodoxae fidei regula minime 
consentiant. — Dion. Petav. in Punar. Epijoh. ad Hcer. 69. quce est 
Arian. 



THE LANGUAGES OF THE FATHERS. 115 

Since therefore they have done thus in other points, 
what wonder is it if they have likewise done the same 
in these particular controversies at this day disputed 
amongst us? and that having lived so long before the 
greatest part of these controversies arose, they have 
spoken of them so obscurely, doubtfully, and con- 
fusedly? For my part I think it would have been 
the greater wonder of the two, if they had done other- 
wise : and shall account it as a very great sign of for- 
gery, in any piece which is attributed to antiquity, 
whenever I find it treating expressly and clearly of 
these points, and as they are now-a-days discussed. 
Only compare the expressions of the most ancient 
Fathers, on the divinity and eternity of the Son of 
God, with their expressions on the nature of the Eu- 
charist ; and certainly you will find, that the former 
are not more wide of the truth at this day professed 
on this last point, than the other were from the doc- 
trine long since declared in the council of Nice. This 
council expressly and positively declared, " That the 
Son is consubstantial with the Father." The council 
of Antioch had before denied this. Whether the 
Fathers therefore affirm or deny that the Eucharist is 
really the body of Christ, they will not however therein 
contradict thy opinion (whosoever thou art, whether 
Romanist or Protestant) any more than the Fathers 
of the council of Antioch seem to have contradicted 
those of the council of Nice. 

We may here add, that as the Arians ought not in 
reason to have adduced, in justification of their opin- 
ions, any such passages of the Fathers as had fallen 
from them inadvertently, and in discoursing on other 
subjects, without any idea of establishing an opinion 
thereon; so neither, to say the truth, is there any 

-on, that either thou or I should produce, as defini- 
tive sentences upon our present controversies which 
have arisen but of late years, any such passages of the 
Fathers as were written by them, in treating of other 



116 DIFFICULTIES OF COMPREHENDING 

matters many ages before the commencement of our 
differences, of which they never had the least idea; 
and concerning which they have delivered themselves 
very diversely and obscurely, and sometimes also seem- 
ingly contradicting themselves. And as we find that 
some of the faithful Christians, who lived after these 
primitive Fathers, have endeavoured to reconcile their 
sayings to the truth which they professed; as Athana- 
sius has done in some passages of Dionysius Alexan- 
drinus,* and of the Fathers of the council of Antioch; 
in like manner ought we to use our utmost endeavour 
to make a fair interpretation of all such passages in 
the writings of these men, as seem to clash with the 
true orthodox belief on the Eucharist and other similar 
points : not accounting it any great wonder, if we 
sometimes chance to meet with passages which seem 
to be utterly inexplicable. For it may so fall out that 
they may be really so; for it is very possible, that in 
the points touching the person and the natures of the 
Son of God, some such expressions may have fallen 
from them, as is very well known to thosa who are 
versed in their writings. Possibly also we may meet 
with some passages of theirs, which, though they may 
be explicable in themselves, may notwithstanding ap- 
pear to us to be inexplicable; by reason perhaps of 
our wanting some of those circumstances which are 
necessarily requisite for elucidating and clearing the 
same: as for example, when we are ignorant of the 
scope and drift of the author, and of the connection 
and dependencies of his discourse, and other similar 
particulars which are requisite for the penetrating into 
the sense of all kinds of writers. For it is with men's 
words as it is with pictures: they must have their 
proper light to show themselves according to the mean- 
ing and intention of the author : and according to the 

* Athan. ep. de fid. Dionys. Alex, et ep. de Syn. Arim. et Seleuc. 
ubi supra. 



THE LANGUAGES OF THE FATHERS. 117 

difference of the lights we see them by, they also have 
a different appearance. As for example, if any one 
should now urge alone, and barely without reference 
to the rest of the discourse and history of its author, 
this short passage of Dionysius Alcxandrinus, where 
he calls the Son of God, notrjfia too Seou, (the work- 
manship of the Father;) Tlotrnm xai yewjrov eluou ~ov 
vfoh too t-ko'j, fajte de tpixjei ioeov a/la. gevop xaz Idtav 
eivou TOU rzazooc, warzeo iazcu 6 fzcooyo^, Tzpot: vnv 
dfjareXov, xm cue b vmmrffo$ izpo$ T0 Gxcupo? xac jap cue 
KOOjfia att>, o'jx i^ nptv y-WjZac ; and adds certain other 
very strange terms, also touching this particular, (as 
we daily see the custom of some is, in the business of 
our present controversies, to produce the like shreds 
and little short passages severed from the main body 
of the discourse whereof they are a part;) which of us, 
how able soever he be, could possibly imagine any- 
thing else, but that this is an absolute Arian expres- 
sion, and such as cannot be interpreted in any other 
sense? And yet Athanasius, in the places before 
cited, makes it plainly appear that it is not so ; and 
by the advantage of those lights which he had in the 
subject there treated of by the author, he demon- 
strates to us that this expression of Dionysius, how 
strange soever it appear, has notwithstanding a good 
and allowable sense in that place. 

That we may be enabled more fully to elucidate 
the subject, we shall in the next place take into con- 
sideration some other causes of the obscurity of the 
Fathers ; among which I shall rank, in the first place, 
their having sometimes purposely, and from design, 
endeavoured either wholly to conceal their conceptions 
from us, or at least to lay them down, not clear and 
open, but as it were with a curtain (and that some- 
times a very thick one too) drawn over them, to the 
end that none but those of the quickest and most 
piercing eyes should be able to penetrate them: some 
of their meditations having been such as they tliem- 
11 



118 DIFFICULTIES OF COMPREHENDING 

selves accounted either of little use, or else such as 
it was not so safe to commit to weak vulgar spirits. 
Whether this practice of theirs was raised upon good 
grounds or not, I shall not here stay to examine : it is 
sufficient for me to show that it was usual with them, 
as may appear, among others in Clemens Alexandri- 
nus, about the beginning of his Stromata, where, 
giving an account of the design of his book, he says 
that "He had pfesed over some things in silence, 
fearing to write that of which he made some scruple 
even to speak : not that he envied his readers any- 
thing, but fearing rather lest they might haply, from 
misunderstanding them, fall into error ; and thus he 
might seem to have put a sword into the hand of a 
child." He adds further, "That he had handled some 
things clearly, and some others obscurely ; laying the 
one open to our view, but wrapping up the other in 
riddles.' ' Ta psv exwv napanepnopac, ixhycop ztzcgtyj- 
[levcor (poftoupsvoQ ypacpscv, & xac Xeyecv scpoXa^aprjv ou 
ti tcod (pQovtov, ou yap dspc^' dsduo^ 8e dpa nepc 
rcou kviujiovovTCDV, prjTirj krspcoq OipaXecev, xac nacdc 
(laycupaV) ^ yaocv o\ Trapocpca^opevoc, opeyovre^ eupeO- 
wpev, &c. ire 3e a xac aivc^erac poc ypa.(py, xac tocc, pev 
Tcapaazrjaerac^ za oe povov spec* 

That which tells most to our present purpose is, 
that they are known to have taken this course parti- 
cularly in some of those points which are now con- 
troverted amongst us; as in that touching the Sacra- 
ments of the Church. For as they celebrated their 
holy mysteries in secret and apart by themselves, not 
admitting either the Pagans or the Catechumens, nor 
yet (as some assure us) any person whatsoever, save 
only the communicants, to the sight of them;f in like 
manner also in their writings, especially in those that 
were to be read openly to the people in their public 
assemblies, they never spoke but very obscurely and 

* Clem. Alex. Strom. 1. f Cassand. in Liturg, c. 26. 



THE LANGUAGES OF TTIE FATHERS. 119 

darkly, as has been observed on the subject of the 
Eucharist by cardinal Perron, and by Casaubon, Pe- 
tavius, and others, and also in the points of baptism, 
confirmation, and other holy ceremonies of the Chris- 
tians.* Observe how wary Theodoret, Epiphanius, 
ami other ancient writers are, in adverting to the sub- 
ject of the Eucharist; describing it in general terms 
only, and such as they only could understand, who 
had been formerly partakers of that Holy Sacrament. 

I shall not here take upon me to examine the end 
which they proposed to themselves in so doing, which 
seems to have been to implant in the minds of the 
Catechumens, a greater reverence and esteem for the 
Sacraments, and a more earnest and eager desire to 
be admitted to partake of them : fearing lest the laying 
open and discoursing plainly on the matter and man- 
ner of celebrating the Sacraments might lessen these 
feelings for them. 

Seeing therefore that not only in this, but in divers 
other particulars also, they have purposely and from 
design concealed their meaning and opinions from us; 
we ought not to account it so strange a matter, if we 
many times find their expressions to be obscure, (and 
which is a consequence of obscurity,) if they some- 
times also seem to clash, and contradict one another. 
Indeed, it were more to be wondered at, if these men, 
who were for the most part able and learned, having 
a purpose of writing obscurely on these points, should 
yet have left us their opinions clearly and plainly 
delivered in their writings. But there is still more in 
it: for sometimes, even where they had no purpose 
of being so, they yet are very obscure: and again, the 
little conversation they have had with those arts, 
which are requisite for the polishing of language, was 
the cause of their not expressing themselves so clearly : 
and .sometimes perhaps their genius and natural dispo- 

Lsaub. in 13.iruH. excrcit. 16. 



120 DIFFICULTIES OF COMPREHENDING 

sition might be the reason ; all their study and industry 
not being able to correct this natural defect in them. 

I believe we may very safely reckon Epiphanius in 
the first rank of this kind of writers, who was indeed 
a good and holy man, but yet had been very little 
conversant in the arts, either of Rhetoric or Grammar, 
as appears sufficiently from his writings ; where he is 
often found failing, not only in the- clearness of his 
expressions, and in the flow and adaptation of his 
periods, but also even in their order and method, 
which is the true light of all discourse. These defects 
must necessarily be the cause of much obscurity in 
many places ; and indeed is much complained of by 
the interpreters of this Father. 

Others perhaps there have been, who have endea- 
voured to polish their language by art, who yet have 
not been able to compass their intention; whether it 
were, because they began too late, or else perhaps 
through the dulness of their wit, and want of capa- 
city; as we see that all natures are not capable of 
receiving all forms, whatever pains and industry they 
take for the making such impressions. In this num- 
ber you may reckon that Victorinus, of whom Jerome 
gives this so favourable testimony, saying, that, though 
indeed he wanted learning, he wanted not a desire 
and good will to learning.* 

Such another also was Ruffinus, whose language 
and expressions the same great censor of the ancients 
so sharply reproves, noticing in him many improprie- 
ties of speech, and other absurdities: and yet for all 
this he would not be taken off from his scribbling 
humour ;f and which is more, there were not wanting 
those who admired him : it being commonly observed, 
that those who wrote most in any age were not 

* Victorino Martyri in libris suis lic&t desit eruditio, tamen non 
deest eruditionis voluntas. — Hier. ep. 84, ad Magn. 
f In Apol. 1, in Ruff, et Apol. 2, et Apol. ad Huff. 



THE LANGUAGES OF THE FATHERS!. 121 

always the ablest men ; this mania existing rather in 
the ignorant than in the other. Photius, in his Bibli- 
otheca, has noticed the like defects in some of his 
Greek writers. 

Yet this obscurity in the Fathers has proceeded, 
not from their ignorance, but rather from their great 
learning; for those among them, who w r ere furnished 
with all kind of secular learning, and had been trained 
up from their infancy in the eloquence and knowledge 
of the Greeks, could not but retain this tincture, and 
sometimes also had their flights, and made show of 
this their treasury; by this means mixing with the 
Christian philosophy many exotic words, customs, and 
discourses: which mixture, though it gives indeed 
much pleasure to the learned, must necessarily render 
the sense of these authors the more dark and per- 
plexed. 

What can you name more mixed or fuller of va- 
riety, than Clemens Alexandrinus's Stromata, as he 
calls them, and his other works, which are throughout 
interwoven with historical allusions, opinions, sen- 
tences, and proverbs, out of all kinds of writers, both 
sacred and profane; being here heightened with rich 
and light colours, there shaded with darkness, to such 
a degree that it is vain for an ignorant person to hope 
ever to obtain his meaning? 

What shall I say of Tertullian, who, notwithstand- 
ing that natural harshness and roughness in which he 
everywhere abounds, and that Carthaginian spirit 
and genius which is common to him with the rest of 
the African writers, has yet shadowed and overcast 
the brilliancy of his conceptions with so much learn- 
ing, and with so many new terms and phrases of law, 
and with such variety of allusions, subtilties, and nice 
points, that the greatest store of learning and atten- 
tion you may possess, will be all little enough to give 
you a perfect understanding of him? 

I shall not here speak anything of Hilary, of the 
11* 



122 DIFFICULTIES OF COMPREHENDING 

loftiness of his imagination, of the sublimity of his 
language, and of that Cothurnus Gf-allicanus which 
Jerome has noticed in him, and in others of his coun- 
trymen. Neither shall I here take any notice of the 
copiousness of the Africans, nor of the subtilty of the 
Athenians, and of those that had their education 
among them, the consideration of all which particu- 
lars would afford matter for an entire volume. I 
shall only say in general, that as the manner of the 
Christian writing and expounding the Scriptures was 
at first very plain, easy, and brief; in a very short 
time it began to be changed, and to be clogged with 
subtilties, and flourishes of secular learning, as testi- 
fied by Methodius in Epiphanius. " The doctors 
(says he) no longer regarding an honest, plain, and 
solid way of teaching, began now to endeavour to 
please, and to be favourably received by their audi- 
tors; just as sophisters are wont to do, who consider 
their labours rewarded by their auditors applauding 
their learning; thus selling themselves at so cheap a 
rate. For as for the ancients, their expositions were 
always very brief; their utmost ambition in those 
days being not to please but to profit their hearers." 
Tcdv ocoaaxalcov outs irpoq to fieXriOTOv d[icXXcofievcov 
ire xac oepvov, dXXa Ttpot; to apeaac xac ebypeprjaac 
xadanep ol XoycoTac, ol fitadov alpouvTac tcov Xoycov 
eneocovc^ofiEvoc tyjz aoipca.q inaivotq. To p.ev ohv naXacov 

ftpV-X ftUVTeXcDZ TO TTSpc TYjV S^yVJdCV 7jV, (fcXoTCpOUfltVCOV 

p:q TSpnscv, aX/.a cocpeXecv tol>£ TcapovTaQ tcov tots.* 

Gregory Nazianzen also very seriously and with 
his usual eloquence, thus complains: — "There was a 
time (saith he) when our affairs flourished, and we 
were in a happy estate, when this vain and loose kind 
of divinity, which is everywhere now in fashion, to- 
gether with all its artifices and delicacies of language, 
was not at all admitted into the sheepfolds of the 

* Method, apud Epiph. User. 64. 



THE LANGUAGES OF THE FATHERS. 123 

Lord. In those days, to listen to or to vent any no- 
velties or curiosities in divinity, was thought like 
playing the juggler, and showing tricks of legerde- 
main, with cunning and nimble shifting of balls under 
a cup, deceiving the eyes of the spectators ; or else by 
delighting them with the various and effeminate mo- 
tions and windings of a lascivious dance. On the 
contrary, rather a plain, masculine, and free way of 
discourse was then accounted the most pious. But 
now, since the Pyrrhonians and Sextus's faction, to- 
gether with the tongue of contradiction, have like 
a grievous malignant disease, broken in upon our 
Churches — since babbling is now allowed for learning, 
and as in the Acts it is said of the Athenians, since 
we spend our time in nothing else but 'in hearing or 
telling some new thing' — for some Jeremiah, to be- 
wail the confusion and darkness we lie under; who 
might furnish us, as that prophet only was able to do, 
with lamentations suitable to our calamities!" 9 Hu 
ozz i/Xfta^e za fj/izzspa, xcu xultoc, icryev^ fjvcxa to fizv 
Ttepcrcov zo'jzo xcu xazsyhozzcofxevov ttjq deoAoycat:, xat 
iweYvov, oude napodov zr/zv etc zac dztac abXa^' dkXa 
toutov fa, iprjipotQ zs nau^etv njp ixptv, xkeitvooaat^ zco 
zo.yzt T7}£ u.zzathcrzcoz, yj xazortyztcrdat zcov Osazcov 
navrocott; xcu ax>dpoyovoi$ Xoyiapaai, xcu nept Seoo Azyztv 
Ttj xat dxouscv xouvozepov, xcu neptepyov* To oz hizhvw 
zz xat z'jyz^zz too Xoyoo zbazyizta iuofju^eto, 'Aft ou os 
1'z^zvt, xcu fluppcope^ xac /y dvreOeroc yhoaaa, wcftzzo 
zt voaqfia detvov xat xaxor^zc za.tz zxxh^tatz fjiuov 
zlaewdapY], xat // tpXuapea ttazdeuaiQ idoge, xcu 6 (pr^m 
nept Adrpcuwv ri fkfSAoc twv IIpagea>v 9 el ouozv tkkko 
ebxatpoofjveVi /] /.zyzt> zt y) dxooeev xaivorepov* co zee 
'/epe/juat; ddupevcu ttjv YjU.zzznay <vryyyc>rs xcu axoropcu- 
iw, b fiovoG ztneo: i&aoup dpinyoo^ nademv.* 

Certainly Jerome, in his Epistle to PammachiuSjf 

I rag. Xi/. Enc. Athan. 
| Hieron. ep. 50, ad Pammach. et passim, ibid. 



124 DIFFICULTIES OF COMPREHENDING 

avows, that even for his writings also, it is necessary 
that the reader be acquainted both with the subtilties 
of logic, and all the flourishes of rhetoric. This cen- 
sure of his reaches also to the writings of Origen, 
Methodius, Eusebius, Apollinaris, Tertullian, Cyp- 
rian, Minutius, Victorinus, Lactantius, Hilary, and 
others, whom he affirms to have all observed the same 
method in their writings.* 

Now although any rational man must willingly 
grant that the translations of terms and figures, either 
in word only, or in things themselves, and such other 
ornaments of rhetoric, with all the subtilties of logic — 
and, in a word, all the artifices of learning, must ne- 
cessarily render any discourse the more obscure and 
dark; yet for the fuller elucidation of this point, I 
shall here add some proofs and examples. Jerome 
declares himself sufficiently of this opinion, f where 
he attributes the cause of the obscurity found in the 
writings of certain authors to their being too learned 
and eloquent. Sixtus Senensis observes, that the 
Fathers have uttered many things in the warmth of 
feeling, which we are not to take in a strictly literal 
sense. J Petavius has also observed, "that the Fathers 
have uttered in their homilies many things which 
cannot be reconciled to good sense, if we examine 
them by the exact rule of truth. § We often excuse 
this in them, by showing that under so many flowers 
and leaves, wherewith they crown their discourses, v 
they many times convey a different sense from that 
which their words in appearance seem to bear. 

Who has not observed the strange hyperboles of 

* Ilieron. ep. 50, ad Pammach. et passim, ibid. 

f Hier. sup. Ep. 139. ad Cjpr. 

X Sixt. Senens. Biblioth. lib. 6. Annot. 152. 

$ Malta sunt a sanctissimis Patribus, praesertimque a Chrysos- 
tomo in homiliis aspersa, quae si ad exactee veritatis regulam 
accommodare volueris, boni sensus inania videbuntur. — Petav. 
Not. in Epiph. 



THE LANGUAGES OF THE FATHERS. 125 

Chrysostom, Hilary, Ambrose, and others? But that 
I may make it plainly and evidently appear how 
mueh these ornaments darken the sense of an author, 
I shall only here lay before you one instance, taken 
from Jerome; who, writing to Eustochium, gives her 
an account, how he was brought before the presence 
of our Lord, for being too much addicted to the study 
of secular learning, and was there really with stripes 
chastised for it. "Think not (says he) that this was 
any of those drowsy fancies or vain dreams which 
sometimes deceive us. I call to witness hereof, that 
tribunal before which I then lay; and that said judg- 
ment, which I was then in dread of. So may I never 
hereafter fall into the like danger, as this is true! I 
do assure you that I found my shoulders to be all 
over black and blue with the stripes I then received, 
and which I afterwards felt when I awoke. So that 
I have ever since had a greater affection to the read- 
ing of divine books, than I ever before had to the 
study of human learning."* 

Now hearing Jerome speak thus, who would not 
believe this to be a true story? and who would not 
understand this narration in the literal sense? Yet 
it appears plainly, from what he has elsewhere con- 
fessed, that all this was but a mere dream, and a rhe- 
torical piece of artifice, frequently used by the masters 
in this art ; contrived only for the better and more 
powerful diverting men from their too great affection 
to the books of the heathens. For Ruffinus, quarrel- 
ing with him on this account, and objecting against 
him, that, contrary to the oath which he had before 
taken, he did notwithstanding still apply himself to 

* \ oporille fuerat, ant vana Bomnia, quibus s»pe delu- 

dimur. 'I tribunal illud, ante quod jacui ; testis judicium 

• quod timui. [ta mini nunquam contingaf in talem Lncidere 

ui : Liventee fateor habuisse me scapulas, i 
Bomnum, el tanto dehinc Btudio diyina legisse, quanto uuu 
ante mortalia legeram. — Hier, <j>. 21 adEustoch. 



126 DIFFICULTIES OF COMPREHENDING 

the study of Pagan learning: Jerome, after he had 
alleged many things to clear himself from this accu- 
sation, says, "Thus you see what I could have urged 
for myself, had I promised any such thing waking. 
But now do but take notice of this new and unheard 
of kind of impudence; he objects against me my very 
dreams/'* Then presently he refers him to the words 
of the prophets, saying, "We must not take heed to 
dreams ; for neither does an adulterous dream cast a 
man into hell, nor that of martyrdom bring him to 
heaven. "f He at last plainly observes, that this 
promise of his was made only in a dream ; and that 
therefore consequently it carried no obligation with 

it.j 

Who knows but that the life of Malchus, which 
Jerome has so delicately and artificially related to us, 
and some other similar pieces of his, and of some 
others, may be the like displays of imagination ? We 
see he does not hesitate to confess, that the life of 
Paulus Eremita was accounted as such by some of 
his friends: and it is very probable that his forty- 
seventh epistle,§ which is so full of learning and elo- 
quence, is but an essay of the same nature ; he having 
there fancied to himself a fit subject only whereon to 
show his own eloquence, agreeably to the usual man- 
ner of orators. 

Thus you see, reader, what great darkness is cast 
over the writings of the ancients by these figures and 
flourishes of rhetoric, and other artifices of human 
learning, which they so often and so over licentiously 

* Hgec dicerem si quippiam vigilans promisissem. Nunc autem 
novum impudentige genus, objicit mihi somnium meum. — Ilier. 
Apol. adv. Ruffm. 

-j- Audiat prophetarum voces, somniis non esse credendum; quia 
nee adulterii somnium ducit me ad Tartarum, nee corona martyrii 
iri coelum levat. — Ibid. 

t Tu a me somnii exigis sponsionem. —Ibid. 

g Hier. in vit. Hilarion. 



THE LANGUAGES OF THE FATHERS. 127 

use, at least as regards ourselves; who, to our great 
disadvantage, find that so many ornaments and em- 
bellishments rather disguise from us the depth of their 
conceptions. Who shall assure us that they have not 
made use of the same arts in their discourses on the 
Eucharist; to advance the dignity of the divine mys- 
teries, and to increase the people's devotion? and 
likewise, as regards the power of the prelates, to pro- 
cure them the greater respect and obedience from 
their people? What probability is there that they 
would spare their pencils, their colours, their shadows, 
and their lights, in those points where this their art 
might have been employed to such good purpose? 

To this place I shall refer those other customs, 
which are so frequent, of denying and affirming things 
as it were absolutely; notwithstanding the purpose 
and intent of their discourse be to deny or affirm them 
only by way of comparison, and reference to some 
other things. Who cannot but think that Jerome 
was tainted with the heresy of Marcion, and of the 
Encratics, when we hear him so fiercely inveigh 
against marriage, as he does in his books against 
Jovinian; and often also in other places to such a de- 
gree, that there have sometimes fallen from him such 
words as these : " Seeing that in the use of the woman 
there is always some corruption, and that incorrup- 
tion properly belongs to chastity, marriage cannot be 
accounted of so high esteem as chastity."* And a 
little after: "My opinion is, that he that hath a wife, 
as long as he returns to such a state, that Satan may 
not tempt him, (that is to say, so long as he makes 
use of her as a wife,) sows in the flesh, and not in the 
spirit. Now he that soweth in the flesh, (it is not I 

* Si corruptio &d omnem coitum pertinet, inoarrnptio Mitem 
proprid c pramia pudicitia nuptise possidere qod pos- 

sum. — JJer. lib. 1. advertus J 



128 DIFFICULTIES OF COMPREHENDING 

that say it, but the Apostle,) the same shall reap cor- 
ruption."* 

Now the above words, taken literally, condemn 
marriage and the use thereof, as defiling a man, and 
depriving him of a blessed immortality. Yet, not- 
withstanding, in his epistle to Pammachius,f he in- 
forms us, that these passages of his, and all other 
similar ones, are not to be understood as spoken posi- 
tively and absolutely, but only by way of comparison; 
that is, he would be understood to say, that the purity 
and felicity of virgins is such, as that, in comparison 
with it, the marriage bed is not to be mentioned. 
This key is very necessary for discovering the sense 
of the ancients. The Fathers of the seventh council 
made very good use of this, in giving the sense of two 
or three passages that were objected against them by 
the Iconoclasts. 

The first passage was out of Chrysostom : " Through 
the Scriptures we enjoy the presence of the saints, 
having the images not of their bodies but of their 
souls: for the things there spoken by them, are the 
images of their souls." ^HpecQ dca zo)v jpaipcov zyz 
zcov kjccov dnoXaoopev napooocat;, obyc zcov acopazwv 
abzcov, dXXa zcov (poycov zaQ dxovac, iyovzz^ za jap 
7iap abzcov ecpr/peva zwp (puyoyv abzcov eixovet; 1<jzcv.\ 

The second passage was out of Amphilochius: 
" Our care is, not to draw in colours on tables the 
natural faces of the saints, (for we have no need of 
any such thing;) but rather imitate their life and con- 
versation, by following the examples of their virtue." 
Ob yap zoic, Ticva^c za aapxcxa npoacona zwv aycojv dca 
ypojpu.zujv irrcpsAe^ qpcv ezzurcouv (bzc ob Xpr&opev 

* Existimo quod qui uxorem habet, quandiu revertitur ad id 
ipsum ne tentet eum Satanas, in carne seminet, et non in spiritu. 
Qui autem in carne seminat, (non ego, sed Apostolus loquitur,) 
mctit corruptionem. — liter, lib. 1. adversus Jovin. 

f Id. ep. 50, ad Pammachium. J Concil. 7, Act. 6. 



THE LANGUAGES OF THE FATHERS. 129 

tootcdp*) a/la nih KoAtTeta* ainraw oc dpezyz &xpip&r* 

The third passage was out of Asterius: " Draw not 
the portrait of Christ on thy garments; but rather 
• w upon the poor the price that these expenses 
would amount to. For as for him, it is sufficient that 
lie once humbled himself, in taking upon him our 
flesh." M/ / ypatpe top Xpiazov ih Ipartoe^ dXXa pakkou 
z/^ 7(0), dvaAwfiatWh zo'jzw^ daaravqv "ar/ozc, ~noo~o- 
<>:'(rr dpxet yap oxjtco fj fua z/^z i^aat/jtaztocrecoc, zaTZSiv- 
coacz.^ 

Would not any man that hears these words, believe 
these three Fathers to have been Iconoclasts ? I con- 
fess I cannot see what could have been said more 
expressly against images: and yet the second council 
of Nice pretends, that these Fathers here speak only 
by waj r of comparison ; J meaning to say no more than 
that the images of Jesus Christ and of the saints are 
much less profitable than the reading of their books, 
or the imitation of their lives, or than charity toward 
the poor. 

I know very well that it is no easy matter suitably 
to apply this answer to the words of these Fathers: 
however, we may make this use of it; that seeing that 
the council of Nice has followed this rule, it is an evi- 
dent argument to us, that the sayings of the Fathers 
both may and ought sometimes to be taken in a quite 
different sense from what they seem to bear: so that 
it will clearly follow from hence that they are very 
difficult to be understood. 

Consider then, whether or not, among so many 
passages as are adduced on the one side and the other 
on the present controversies, there may not be many 
of them which are to be understood, as just observed, 
by way of comparison only; that is to say, quite con- 
trary to what they seem to say. Now, as the rhetoric 

* Concil. 7. Art. »;. ( j I' moil. 7. ubi supra. 



130 DIFFICULTIES OF COMPREHENDING 

used by the Fathers has rendered their discourses, 
which were addresses to the people, full of obscurity ; 
in like manner has their logic sown a thousand thorns 
and difficulties throughout their polemical writings. 
For many times, while they are in the heat of their 
disputations, they have their mind so intent upon the 
objects they are aiming at, that having regard to 
nothing else, they let fall such expressions as appear 
very strange, if they be considered in reference to 
some other points of Christian religion. 

Sometimes also, whilst they use their utmost endea- 
vour to beat down one error, they seem to run into 
the contrary one: as those who would straighten a 
crooked plant, are wont to bend it as much the con- 
trary way ; that so having been worked out of its 
former bent, it may at length rest in a middle pos- 
ture : of which similitude Theodoret also makes use 
on this very subject.* 

In the same manner also did Athanasius explain 
those words of Dionysius Alexandrinus, which were 
urged against him by the Arians, as seeming to tell 
very much in their favour, as we have noticed before. 
44 He wrote not this (answers Athanasius) positively, 
and with a purpose of giving an account of his belief 
in these words, but as being led on to utter them, by 
the occasion and the persons he discoursed with. In 
like manner (says he) as a gardener orders the same 
trees in a different manner, according to the differ- 
ence of the soil where they are. Neither can any 
blame him for lopping off some and engrafting others; 
for planting this, and plucking up that by the roots. 
On the contrary rather, whoever knows the reason of 
this, will admire the variety and several ways of his 
industrious proceeding." ^X ^"^C, &C ntoztv 
ixTiOe/J.£vos. — Kacpoo, xat irpoaconoo Tzpoipaotc, eUxuaev 
aurov rotauza ypa</jac. — Kcu yap yewpyo<; tcdv abzwv 

* Theod. Dial. 3. c. 30. Sic et Bas. de Dion. Alex. ep. 41. 



THE LANGUAGES OF THE FATHERS. 131 

devdpwh dXXore d/lco- i-cuz/sczac, oca ryv utzoxecuz^u 
r»c PJC icotorijTa % xou o : j oca zouzo /is/u/'aczo av zee 
wjtou, fat touto fish refuse, iketvo de iyxeuTpe^ee^ &c. 
a/la. xcu paXkov fiadcM nyv aizcav, Oowpaau to tzocxcIqv 
mrrou zr: imorqi&js.* 

Afterwards Athanasius says, that Dionysius main- 
tained those positions, upon occasion of the error of 
certain bishops of Pentapolis, who maintained the 
opinion of Sabellius; and that he did this by dispen- 
sation, as he there speaks: — Ta oTzoTrzeoOevza xaz 
aiwovofuav iypatfevif that is to say, not positively and 
simply, but as in reference to such a certain case 
only: "Now no man ought (says he) to wrest to the 
worst sense those things which are either said or 
done by dispensation; or to interpret them as himself 
pleases:" Ou dsc oz za xaz" oixovojjuav ypaxpo/teva xa.i 
jwofM£va % za'jza xaxozoozcoz oeyzaQai, xac siq tdcav 
klxeev kxatrrou fiouX7)<jcv.% 

In another place Athanasius in the same manner 
explains the words of the Fathers of the council of 
Antioch, who had denied the consubstantiality of the 
Son, showing that their intention was only to over- 
throw a position which Paulus Samosatenus had laid 
down; namely, that the Father and the Son were 
both one and the self-same person, and had not any 
distinct subsistence. 

By this very rule also does Basil interpret that 
saying of Gregorius Neocsesariensis — "That the 
Father and the Son are two, according to our appre- 
hension only; but that in hypostasis they are but 
one:" {Jlavspa xou Tlov litivoto. pep eipeu o'jo, vTzooza.ait 
os 8v;)§ but alleging "That he spoke this, not dog- 
matically, but only in the heat of disputation:" — 
Touto de tret ou dofparcxcDC upyvcu, aXX dyoj^cazcxcoz, 
fco.ll 

Uhan. Ep. de fid. Won. Alex. f Athan. ibid, 

J Athan. ibid. j Basil. Ep. 64. || [bid. 



132 DIFFICULTIES OF COMPREHENDING 

From this it would appear that in all writings of 
the Fathers, the opinion which they oppugn is the 
rule and measure of whatsoever they are understood 
to affirm or deny. This is that which varies their 
sense anc^ meaning, though oftentimes expressed in 
the same manner, and with the very same words, 
with that of the heretics. When they dispute against 
the Valentinians or the Manichees, a man would then 
believe them to be Pelagians; and so likewise when 
they are contesting with the Pelagians, would you 
then imagine that they defended the opinions of the 
Manichees. If they dispute against Arius, you 
would think they favoured Sabellius : and again, 
when they oppose Sabellius, you would believe that 
they were Arians: as has been observed by the 
bishop of Bitonto,* particularly in Augustine. 

A system like this we may every day observe in 
our preachers. When they preach against covetous- 
ness, they seem in a manner to cry up prodigality; 
and if they declaim against prodigality, they then 
seem to approve covetousness. Thus it is also with 
the Protestants : when they would overthrow those 
empty figures, which are fathered by their adversa- 
ries upon those they call Sacramentarians, you would 
suppose that they maintained the real presence in the 
Eucharist, as the manner of speaking is. And when 
they dispute against Transubstantiation and the real 
presence, you would then swear that they defended 
the opinion of these very Sacramentarians. 

There is amongst Athanasius's works a certain 
very learned, elegant, and acute tract, wherein is de- 
bated, as strongly as can be, that point concerning 
the distinction of the two natures in Jesus Christ. 
Only read what he there says, in the beginning of 
that discourse; and you will think that it could not 
proceed from any but from Nestorius's mouth : — llpo^ 

* Corn. Mussus. Episc. Bitont. Comment, in ep. ad Rom. c. 5. 



THE LANGUAGES OF THE FATHERS. 133 

to'j; Asyoira;, * Iou8o£0£ cVrrv, o fiy oftoXoywv Osov 
i<TTai>pco<rOcu.* Yet you will perceive plainly, by the 
last chapter of the said book, that he was not of his 
opinion. Now if by any misfortune it should so 
have happened that this last chapter had been lost, 
Athanasius must necessarily have been taken for a 
Nestorian, by reason of the dangerous expressions 
which he has there made use of, being urged thereto 
through the warmth of the dispute he maintained 
against the opinions of the Eutychians. 

For the same reason also, Julius, bishop of Rome, 
seems to have favoured the contrary error, namely, 
that of Eutyches, in that epistle of his cited by Gen- 
nadius; which was indeed heretofore of good use, 
against the opinion of those men who maintained two 
persons in Christ; but which "is now found to be 
pernicious (says he) by fomenting the impieties of 
Eutyches and Timotheus."| This has given occasion 
to some of the more modern authors, who have writ- 
ten since Gennadius's time, J to think that this epistle 
was not written by Pope Julius, but had been attri- 
buted to him by the false dealing of the heretics. 

The case was the same with these ancient Fathers, 
as it is with the pilot of a ship, who is to steer his 
vessel between two rocks, one only of which he has 
discovered, the other lying hid underwater. Taking 
no other care but to avoid the danger which he sees 
before his eyes, he very easily falls into that other 
which he never so much as suspected; so that if he 
split not his vessel upon it, and be utterly cast away, 
he will with difficulty avoid receiving injury at least. 
Thus these Fathers saw indeed the rock of Paulus 

* T. 2. Oper. Athan. Par. impr. an. 1027. 

t Nunc autem perniciosa probatur. Fomenttmi onim est Eut}-- 
cliinnae et Timotheane impietatis. — Gennad. in Catal. inter op. 
J I- r. 

J Facxmd. fferm. defens. 3 capit. lib. 1. p. 40. quo loco vide Sir- 
mondum. 

12* 



134 DIFFICULTIES OF COMPREHENDING 

Samosatenus's doctrine, and that of Nestorius, but 
did not at all observe that of Arms, or of Eutyches, 
which lay yet under water and concealed. Thus 
employing their utmost endeavours to avoid the dan- 
ger of the two former, which they then only feared, 
they have scarcely escaped falling into, or at least 
touching very near upon the two latter, of which they 
then had no thought at all. 

Only imagine then, how warily and carefully it 
behoves us to w T alk amidst these disputes of the 
ancients, which are so beset with thorns; and with 
what judgment we are to distinguish between what 
things* are principal, and what but accidental only; 
between the cause and the means ; and between the 
excess and defect in their expressions, and their true 
sense and meaning: and then tell me whether you 
think it reasonable or not, that two or three words 
only, which may perhaps accidentally have fallen 
from them in their disputations, either against the 
Valentinians and Marcionites, or against the Nesto- 
rians or Eutychists, should be taken as their definitive 
sentiments upon such points as are now controverted 
amongst us — whether on free-will, or the properties 
of the body of Christ, and the nature of the Eu- 
charist. 

Before we conclude this matter, however, we should 
observe that the change of customs, both civil and 
ecclesiastical, and the variation of words in their sig- 
nification, do not a little contribute to this difficulty 
of understanding the writings of the Fathers. Who 
knows not, and indeed who confesses not, both on the 
one side and on the other, that the outward face of 
the world, and even of the Church itself too, is in a 
manner wholly changed ? I speak not here of the 
doctrine, but only of the upper garment, as I may 
call it, and the outward part of the Church. Where 
is the ancient discipline? What is become of the 
rigid and severe rules of those ancient times? Where 



THE LANGUAGES OF THE FATHERS. 185 

are those mysterious ceremonies in baptism, and in 
the administration of the Eucharist? Where are 
those customs then used in the ordination of the 
clergy? All these tilings arc now quite forgotten 
and buried; the Church by little and little having ap- 
pareled itself in other colours and in another garb. 

The books then of the ancients being full of allu- 
sions to these things which we are in a manner now 
wholly ignorant of, it must necessarily follow from 
hence, that it will be a difficult matter for us to guess 
at their meaning in any such passages. But yet 
there arises much more confusion out of the words 
they used; which we have still retained, though in a 
different signification. We have indeed these words, 
Pope, Patriarch, Mass, Oblation, Station, Proces- 
sion, Mortal Sins, Penance, Confession, Satisfac- 
tion, Merit, Indulgence, as the ancients had, and 
make use of an infinite number of the like terms; but 
understand them all in a sense almost as far different 
from theirs, as our age is removed from theirs; just 
in like manner as of old, under the Roman Emperors, 
the names of offices, and of things, for a long time 
continued the same that had been in use in the time 
of the old republic; but with a sense quite different 
from what they had formerly borne. Thus when Ave 
light upon any passage in the ancients, where the 
bishop of Rome is called Papa, or Pope, Ave imme- 
diately begin to fancy him with all the glory at this 
day belonging to this name; not disallowing him so 
much as his guard of Swiss, and his light horse: 
whereas they that are but indifferently versed in these 
books, know that the name Papa, or Pope, Avas given 
to every bishop. So likewise, when Ave meet with the 
word JExomologesis, or Confession, Ave presently fancy 
a man down upon his knees before his confessor, whis- 
pering in his ear all the sins he has committed. The 
word Mass likewise makes as prick up our ears, as if, 
even from those ancient times, the whole liturgy and 



136 PRIVATE OPINIONS OF THE FATHERS 

all the ceremonies used at the celebration of the Eu- 
charist, had been the very same that they are at this 
day. Whereas the learned of both parties acknow- 
ledge that these names have, since that time, lost 
very much of their old, and acquired new significa- 
tions. 

But enough, and perhaps too much, has been said, 
for elucidating the points as regards the obscurities 
in the writings of the Fathers. We may therefore 
come to the conclusion, as we stated at the com- 
mencement, that it is not so easy a matter, as people 
may imagine, to discover by their writings what the 
sense of the ancient Church has been, concerning the 
points at this day controverted among us. 



CHAPTER VI. 

Reason VI. — The Fathers frequently conceal their own private 
opinions, and say what they did not believe; either in reporting 
the opinions of others, without naming them, as in their com- 
mentaries; or in disputing against an adversary, where they 
make use of whatever they are able ; or in accommodating them- 
selves to their auditory, as may be observed in their homilies. 

The writings of the Fathers are, for the most part, 
of three kinds — Commentaries on the Holy Scrip- 
tures; Homilies delivered before the people; and 
Polemical Discourses and Disputations with the He- 
retics. 

Now we have heretofore seen how much their rhe- 
torical style has darkened and rendered their sense 
obscure, in their writings of the first and second class; 
and what their warmth of disputation and logical 
wranglings have caused in those of the latter. Let 
us now see if, after having drawn the expressions of 
the Fathers out of these thick clouds, and attained to 



• FREQUENTLY CONCEALED OR DISGUISED. 187 

a clear and perfect understanding of the sense of 
them, we may be able at length to rest assured that Ave 
have discovered what their opinions were. I confess 
I could heartily wish that it were so: but considering 
what they have themselves informed us concerning 
the nature and manner of their writings, I am much 
afraid that we neither may, nor indeed ought, to con- 
sider ourselves in any certainty, even then, when we 
are upon these very terms. 

With respect to their Commentaries, which we have 
often occasion to consult, upon sundry passages of 
Scripture, on the meaning whereof we disagree among 
ourselves, hear what Jerome says, who was the most 
learned of all the Latins, and who yields but very 
little to any of the Greeks in these matters. 

ww What (says he) is the business of a Commentary? 
It expounds the words of another man ; and declares 
in plain terms the sense of things obscurely written ; 
it represents the several opinions of others, and says, 
Some expound this passage thus; and others interpret 
it thus. These endeavour to prove their sense and 
meaning by such testimonies and such reasons; to 
the end that the intelligent reader, having several ex- 
positions before him, and reading the judgments of 
divers men, some bringing what he may, and others 
perhaps what he cannot admit of; he may judge 
which among the rest is the truest; and like a wise 
banker may refuse all adulterated coin. Now I would 
a.-k whether he ought to be accounted guilty of diver- 
sity in his interpretations, or of contradiction in the 
senses given, who in one and the same commentary 
shall deliver the expositions of divers persons?"* 

* Common tarii quid opens habentf Altering dicta edisseront; 
ta rant, piano sermone manifestant, mnltorunl 
- replicant, <-t diennt: Hnnc locum qnidam Bic edisserunt; 
alii Bic Lnterpretantnr; illi Bensum buuid et Intelligentiam liis t 

firmare; at pradens Lector i am 
div«. et, et maltoram vol probanda vel im- 



138 PRIVATE OPINIONS OF THE FATHERS " 

And so on, as it there follows in the place afore cited. 
He speaks likewise to the same sense in various other 
places throughout his works: "This (says he) is the 
usual manner of commentaries, and the rule that com- 
mentators go by; to set down in their expositions the 
several opinions they have met with ; and to deliver, 
both what their own and what the judgment of others 
is upon the passage. And this is the practice not 
only of the interpreters of the Scriptures, but of the 
expositors also of all kinds of secular learning, as well 
in the Greek as in the Latin tongue."* 

Now I must needs say, that this seems to be a very 
strange way of commenting. For what light, or what 
certainty can a reader be able to gather out of such a 
rhapsody of different opinions, jumbled together in a 
heap, without so much as intimating either which is 
good or bad; probable or necessary; to the purpose 
or not ? But seeing that it has pleased Jerome to 
follow this course, whatsoever his reason be, you see 
plainly that we are not to take as his whatsoever he 
has delivered in his commentaries. And seeing also 
that he speaks in general terms, as he does, of the 
nature and manner of a commentary; we are not to 
doubt, but that the rest of the Fathers have chiefly 
been of the same judgment; and that consequently 
they took the same course in those expositions which 
we have of theirs. So that it will hence follow, that 
notwithstanding that we should chance to find in this 

probanda didicerit, judicet quid verius sit, et quasi bonus trape- 
zita adulterinae monetae pecuniam reprobet. Num diversse inter- 
pretations, et contrariorum inter se sensuum tenebitur reus, qui 
in uno opere quod edisserit expositiones posuerit plurimorum ? — 
Hier. ep. ad Pammach. et Marcel. Apol. advers. Ruff. 

* Hie est commentariorum mos, et explanantium regula, ut opi- 
niones in expositione varias persequantur, et quid vel sibi vel aliis 
videatur edisserant. Et hoc non. solum sanctarum interpretes 
scrip turarum, sed saecularium quoque literarum explanatores faci- 
unt, tain Latinae linguae, qu&m Gnecae. — Hier. ep. ad Pammach. et 
Apol. advers. Ruff. 



. FREQUENTLY CONCEALED OR DISGUISED. 139 

kind of writings of theirs, an opinion, or an interpre- 
tation, clearly delivered; yet may we not from thence 
conclude that this was the author's own opinion: for 
perhaps he only delivered it as the opinion of some 
other man. 

Now if the Fathers had been but careful to have 
taken in water out of wholesome fountains only, fill- 
ing up their commentaries with no other opinions or 
interpretations, except only those of persons of known 
piety, faith, and learning, this mixture would have 
proved the less dangerous. For, notwithstanding that 
we should ofcen be at a stand, and doubt whether that 
which we there find be the true sense and opinion of 
the Father whose name it bears; yet we might still 
rest assured, that though it should not perhaps be his, 
it must certainly be the opinion of some other good 
author, if not of equal yet of little less authority than 
he. But the mischief of it is, that they took a quite 
contrary course, many times filling their commentaries 
with very strange, senseless expositions, and some- 
times too with dangerous ones, and such as were taken 
out of very suspected authors, who had no very good 
name in the Church. 

Jerome tells us often,* (and w T ho ever shall but 
diligently and attentively read him, may easily ob- 
serve as much.) that his commentaries, (which make 
the greatest and most considerable part of his works,) 
are interwoven- throughout with expositions taken out 
of Origen, Didymus, Apollinaris, and others, who 
were at that time ill-spoken of, as men who too pre- 
sumptuously foisted upon the world their own private 
opinions, "fashioning the mysteries of the Church 
out of their own private fancies :"f as Jerome himself 
sometimes said of Origen. 

* Hier. prcefat. in Comment, in op. ad Galat. et Apol. 2. adv. 
Ruff, et c}'. 89. ad August el alibi srepe. 
t [ngenium suum facit Ecclesiae sacramenta. — Hier. Comment, 5. 



140 PRIVATE OPINIONS OF THE FATHERS 

Now this is strange to me : for no man is more 
strenuous in crying down these authors than he ; 
being indeed one of the principal heads of that holy 
league of Theophilus and Epiphanius, against Origen 
and his party. No man ever reproved any one so 
sharply as he has done Ruffinus, for offering to pre- 
sent to the view of the Latins the poisonous doctrines 
of Origen in those books of his which he had trans- 
lated; and in the meantime he himself crams his own 
commentaries with the same; many times without 
using any preparation at all about them, or furnish- 
ing his reader w T ith any counter-poison, in case he 
meets with any of them.* So likewise in his com- 
mentaries upon the Prophets, he ever and anon brings 
in diverse expositions out of the Jews themselves: in- 
somuch that, when you think you are reading and 
searching after the opinion and sense of Jerome upon 
such or such a passage, you often read that of a 
heretic, or of a Jew. 

If the Fathers would but have taken the pains to 
have given us notice every time who the author was, 
whose opinion they adduced, this manner of comment- 
ing upon the Scriptures would have been much more 
beneficial to us, and less troublesome. For the name 
would have been useful in directing us what account 
we were to make of such opinions and expositions. 
But this they do but very seldom, as you ma}* observe 
out of the expositions of Hilary, Ambrose, and others; 
who, robbing poor Origen without any mercy, do not 
yet do him the honour so much as scarcely to name 
him.f This is certain, that you shall find in Ambrose 
many times whole periods and whole pages too, taken 
out of Basil; but, unless my memory fail me, you 
shall never find him once named there, 

* Vid. Comment, in Nalium. 

f Vid. Hieron. Apol. adv. Ruff, ad Pammacli. et Marcel, et Ep. 
141. ad Marcel. 



FREQUENTLY CONCEALED OR DISGUISED. 141 

These men deliver you the opinions and words of 
other men, just as if they were their own; and yet 
will not be bound to warrant them for good and 
sound. Jerome, in his Commentary upon the Epistle 
to the Galatians, expounds that passage where there 
is mention made of Paul reproving Peter, by way of 
dispensation; telling us that Paul did not reprehend 
him, as if he had indeed accounted him blame-worthy; 
but only for the better edification, and bringing in of 
the Gentiles, by this seeming reprehension of his; who 
did but act this part with Peter, "to the end (says 
he) that the hypocrisy, or false show of observing the 
law, which offended those among the Gentiles who 
had believed, might be corrected by the hypocrisy or 
false show of reprehension ; and that by this means 
both the one and the other might be saved: whilst 
the one, who praise circumcision, follow Peter; and 
those others, who refuse circumcision, applaud Paul's 
liberty."* 

Augustine, utterly disliking this exposition of Je- 
rome, wrote to him in his ordinary grave and meek 
way, modestly declaring the reasons why he could 
not assent to it; which epistles of his are yet extant. 
The other answers him a thousand strange things; 
but particularly he there protests, that he will not 
warrant for sound whatever shall be found in that 
book of his:t and to show that he does not do this 
without good reason, he sets down a certain passage 
out of his preface to it, which is very well worth our 
consideration. For after he has named the writings 
of Driven, Didymus, Apollinaris, Theodorus of Ilera- 
olea, Eusebiua of Emesa, Alexander the heretic, and 

* Ut li rrandaa legis, qua nocebat lie qui ex genti- 

bue en lid rant, correptionis hypocrisi emendaretur, et aterque 

I qui circumcisionem Laudant, Petrum 
untur, et qui circumcidi nolunt, Paxil] predicant Libertatem. — 

mrm nt. ,. < , ./(at. 

f Hieron. ep. ad August, quea est 89. 

13 



142 PRIVATE OPINIONS OF THE FATHERS 

others, he adds; "That I may therefore plainly tell 
the truth, I confess that I have read all these authors; 
and collecting together as much as I could in my 
memory, I presently called for a scribe; to whom I 
dictated either my own conceptions, or those of other 
men, without remembering either the order, or the 
words sometimes, or the sense/'* Do but reflect 
now, whether or not this be not an excellent rare way 
of commenting upon the Scriptures, and very well 
worthy to be esteemed and imitated by us ! He then 
turns his address to Augustine, saying, " If therefore 
thou lightest upon anything in my expositions which 
was worthy of reprehension, it would have stood 
better with thy learning to have consulted the Greek 
authors themselves; and to have seen, whether what I 
have written be found in them or not ; and if not, then 
to have condemned it as my own private opinion. "f 
And he elsewhere gives the same answer to Ruffinus, 
who upbraids him for some absurd passages in his 
Commentaries upon the Prophet Daniel.J 

Now, according to this statement, if we would know 
whether or not what we meet with in Jerome's com- 
mentaries, be his own proper sense or not, we must 
first turn over the books of all these ancient Greeks; 
that is to say, we must do that which is now impossi- 
ble to be done, seeing that the writings of the greatest 
part of them are utterly lost; and must not attribute 
anything to him, as his proper opinion, how clearly 
and expressly soever it be delivered, unless we are 
first able to make it appear, that it is not to be found 
in any of those authors, out of whose writings he has 

* Itaque ut simpliciter fatear, legi Iisrc omnia, et in mente mea 
plurima coacervans, accito notario, vel mea vel aliena dictavi, nee 
ordinis, nee verborum interdum, nee sensuum memor. — Ilier. ibid. 

f Si quid igitur reprehensione dignum putaveras in explanatione 
nostra, eruditionis tuse fuerat quasrere, &c. — Id. ibid. Vide et Apol. 
contra Ruff. 

% Id. Apol. 2. adv. Ruff. 



FREQUENTLY CONCEALED OR DISGUISED. 143 

patched up his commentaries. For if any one of them 
be found to have delivered anything you here meet 
With, you are to take notice that it belongs to that 
author; Jerome in this case having been only his 
transcriber, or at most but his translator. So that 
you may be able perhaps, by the reading of books in 
this manner collected, to judge whether the Fathers 
have had the skill to make a clever and artificial con- 
nection and digestion of those things which they 
gleaned out of so many several authors or not. 
Whether or not they believed all that they have set 
down in their books, you will be no more able to dis- 
cover, than you can judge what belief any man is of 
by the books he transcribes; or can guess at the 
opinions of an interpreter by the books he translates. 
Whence we may conclude, that testimonies brought 
out of such books as these are of little or no force at 
all, either for or against us. 

This seems to have been the opinion of cardinal 
Bellarmine, where to a certain objection brought out 
of one of Jerome's books, he makes this answer: 
"that the author in that place speaks according to 
the opinion of others; as he often does in his com- 
mentaries upon the Epistle to the Ephesians, and in 
other places." The like course has cardinal Perron 
taken, where the Protestants have urged against the 
Church of Rome the authority of Hilary, on the canon 
of the Scriptures of the Old Testament; confidently 
answering that the notes cited out of that place of 
Hilary are not his, but Origen's, in his commentary 
upon the first Psalm; part of whose words he had 
transcribed and inserted in his own prologue upon the 
Psalms; and yet Hilary neither so much as names 
Origen, nor yet gives us any intimation at all, whether 
we are to receive what is there spoken concerning the 
Scriptures, u from Origen or from himself. The 
ground of this answer of his is taken from what Je : 



144 PRIVATE OPINIONS OF THE FATHERS 

rome has testified in various places; namely, that 
Hilary has transcribed the greatest part of his com- 
mentaries out of the said Origen. 

Now if we but rightly consider the account which 
Jerome has given, as we showed before, of all com- 
mentaries in genera], how can we have any assurance 
whether that which the Fathers deliver in this kind 
of writings, be their own real opinion, or only some 
other man's transcribed? and if we can have no as- 
surance hereof, how can we then consider them of 
any force at all either for or against us? So that it 
is most evident, that this method which the Fathers 
have observed in their expositions of the Scriptures, 
must render the things themselves very doubtful, 
however clearly and expressly they have delivered 
themselves. 

But has it not behoved them to be more careful in 
their Homilies, or Sermons; and to deliver nothing 
there but what has been their own proper opinion and 
belief? May we not, at least in this particular, rest 
assured that they have spoken nothing but from their 
very soul; and that their tongues have expressed here 
their own opinions only, and not those of other men ? 
Certainly, in all reason, they should not have uttered 
anything in the sacred place from whence they taught 
their people, but what they conceived to have been 
most true. Yet besides what we have heretofore no- 
ticed as to this particular, (namely, that they did not 
always speak out the whole truth, but concealed some- 
thing of it, as not so fit for the ears either of the 
Pagans or of the weaker sort of Christians,) cardinal 
Perron, that great and curious inquirer into all the 
customs of the ancients, has informed us that, in re- 
gard to the aforesaid considerations, they have some- 
times gone yet further.* For, in expounding the 

* Perron, of the Euchar. 1. 1, c. 10. Aut. 24, ch. 15, et passim 
locis infra citandis. 



FREQUENTLY CONCEALED OR DISGUISED. 145 

Scriptures to the people, where the Catechumens were 
present, if by chance they fell upon any passage 
where the Sacraments w T ere spoken of, that they 
might not discover these mysteries, they would then 
make bold to wrest the text a little, and instead of 
giving them the true and real interpretation of the 
place which they themselves knew to be such, they 
would only present their auditory with an allegorical 
and symbolical, and (as this cardinal says,) an acci- 
dental and collateral one ; only to give them some 
kind of small satisfaction; inasmuch as, if in such 
cases they should have been utterly silent, it would 
questionless have much amazed their auditors, and in 
some degree also have scandalized and given them 
offence. To satisfy therefore their expectation, and 
yet to keep these mysteries still concealed from them, 
they evasively waived the business, laying before them 
that which they accounted not the best and truest, but 
the fittest for their purpose and design. Thus do we 
sometimes please little children with an apple, or some 
little toy, to take them off the desire they have for 
something of greater value. Those therefore who take 
all that the Fathers deliver in the like places for good 
and solid expositions, and such as they themselves 
really believed, very much deceive themselves; and 
believing they have a solid body in their arms, em- 
brace only an empty shadow. 

Now we should hardly believe those holy men to 
have been guilty of any such juggling as this, had we 
not the word of so eminent a cardinal for our belief; 
upon whose authority we have, for this once, adven- 
tured to propose it to the reader's consideration, and 
shall withal produce some few examples taken out of 
the same author. 

Augustine being to expound the sixth chapter of 
the Gospel of John, (where, as he conceives, our Sa- 
viour Christ is very copious in his discourse concern- 
ing the Eucharist,) presently begins to obumbrate and 
IS* 9 



146 PRIVATE OPINIONS OF THE FATHERS 

disguise the mystery with such a number of allegories, 
riddles, and ambiguities, as that, if you dare believe 
the cardinal, throughout the whole twenty-sixth tract, 
there is not one period but has in it some elusion, 
diversion, or diminution of the true and solid defini- 
tion of this article. Thus does he interpret the bread 
which came down from heaven to be the gift of the 
Holy Ghost: "Our Saviour (says he) purposing to 
send down the Holy Ghost, saith that it is the bread 
which descended from heaven/'* 

You may, if you please, believe, upon the faith of 
this Father, that this is the true sense and meaning 
of the passage. But yet the cardinal makes it appear, 
out of Calvin, that it cannot be so. He likewise con- 
tradicts, after the same manner, that which the same 
Father says a little after, to wit, that the purpose of 
our Saviour was to let us understand that this meat 
and drink, whereof he speaks in St. John, is the com- 
munion and fellowship, that is between his body and 
his members, who are the holy Church, in his faithful 
servants, predestinated, called, justified, and glorified. 

Had not the cardinal given us this information, 
who would ever have imagined that this author (who 
was so conscientious as to make it a great quarrel 
with Jerome, only for having laid dissimulation to 
Paul's charge,) should here himself say that our Sa- 
viour Christ would have us to understand his words 
thus, unless he himself really believed this to be the 
true sense and meaning of them? The cardinal also 
applies this very consideration to the greatest portion 
of those other passages, cited out of this Father by 
the Protestants; namely, "to believe in Christ is to 
eat the Bread of Life:" and to this other; "He that 
believes in him eats of it; and he is invisibly fed by 
it, because that he is also invisibly born again:" and 

* Perron. Tract, de S. August, c. 12, et lib. 2, de Euch. Aut. 
22, c 1. 



FREQUENTLY CONCEALED OR DISGUISED. 147 

to this also; "Whosoever eats of this bread, he shall 
never die; but this is to be understood of him that 
eats of it, according to the virtue of the sacrament; 
and not according to the visible sacrament; of him 
that eats of it internally, and not externally; of him 
that eats of it with his heart, and not of him that 
chews it with his teeth." 

In all these places the cardinal pretends that Au- 
gustine suppresses the true, full, and solid definition 
of this manducation, or eating of the flesh, and drink- 
ing the blood of Christ; and instead thereof presents 
this allegorical and accidental meditation to the cate- 
chumens, only to cast a mist, as it were, before their 
eyes, and to elude their curiosity.* He makes use of 
the same course also in answering those passages 
which are quoted by the Protestants from Theodoret, 
and Gregory Nazianzen ;f who, he says, called the 
Eucharist " the antitype of the body and blood of 
Chri»t,"J in the same manner as Abraham, being 
among infidels, called Sarah his sister; concealing 
something of what w T as true, but yet affirming nothing 
that was false. He likewise explains after the same 
manner this passage, out of the Pcedagocjus of Cle- 
mens Alexandrinus ; " The flesh and the blood of 
Christ is faith and the promise. "§ In a word, he is 
so much pleased with this observation, that he adopts 
it at every turn: and indeed we may very well say, 
that tlii< is liis main treasur}', out of which he pro- 
■ duces the greatest part of those subtle and so much 
admired solutions he gives to the passages objected 
against them out of the Fathers. || 

Those who are disposed to examine these passages 



* Pe ' : 1). 1. 2, Ant 24, o. 15. 

rron. de Each. 1. 2, Ani J Id. Ibid. 

. 1. _, Ant. 5. 
: ; Ed. de Ench. . 332, 389, 344, 356, 117. 120, 134, 

510, 516; • i I 1 15, 



148 PRIVATE OPINIONS OF THE FATHERS 

of his, may probably find something to retort upon 
him, in some of those applications he has there made. 
It is enough for our present purpose, that he admits 
that the Fathers, in their sermons and discourses 
made to the people, have often made use of this spe- 
cies of art; from which it clearly follows, that we 
cannot then possibly have any assurance that they 
themselves accounted, as solid and full, such exposi- 
tions and opinions as they have delivered in these 
writings of theirs. 

As the cardinal endeavours by this means to weaken 
the force of those passages of Augustine, Gregory 
Nazianzen, Theodoret, and Clemens Alexandrinus, 
may not the Protestants, when any passages are 
brought against them out of the homilies of Chrysos- 
tom, or Eucherius, which seem to tell strongly against 
their opinions, be allowed to have the same liberty, 
and to answer, that these Fathers, speaking before 
the people, made use of this dispensation, speaking 
that which they thought to be, not the best and truest, 
but the most proper for the edification of others, and 
that they had an apprehension that a bare and down- 
right expression of the truth might possibly have 
abated the warmth of the people's devotion? there 
being apparently (say they) more cause to doubt, that 
the people might disesteem and slight the sacrament, 
than to fear lest they should adore it: indeed the Fa- 
thers are much more careful in concealing the matter 
of the sacrament, the outward appearance whereof is^ 
apt to make it disesteemed, than they are in conceal- 
ing the form, which is of so venerable a nature; say- 
ing often, and in express terms, that it is " the body 
of Christ;" but ordinarily forbearing to say that it is, 
or that it was, "a piece of bread." 

We now enter upon the third class of the writings 
of the ancients, wherein the Fathers dispute against 
the adversaries of their faith; namely, the Pagans, 
Jews, and Heretics. 



FREQUENTLY CONCEALED OR DISGUISED. 149 

We have heretofore observed how much obscurity 
the earnestness and warmth of spirit have caused in 
the expressions of the Fathers: and this defect arises 
from mere feeling; and not from any design or pur- 
pose that they had of speaking thus rather than other- 
wise. For seeing that all kind of impassioned feeling 
disturbs, and in some measure confounds, the judg- 
ment; and seeing it is difficult for a man, however 
holy he be, to go through a disputation, without some 
alteration in his temper; especially if it be of any 
importance, as all those on religion are, we are not to 
wonder, if in these cases we sometimes find the lan- 
guage of the Fathers somewhat confused, and appear- 
ing of several colours; just as passion usually tinges 
both the countenance and language of those it takes 
possession of. \ 

Besides the confusion which is caused merely by 
the agitation of the spirits, without the Fathers so 
much as thinking of it, we are here further to take 
notice, that the proper design and the law of the 
method observed in disputations, is the cause of our 
encountering with so many and great difficulties. For 
their opinion was, that in this kind of writing it was 
lawful for them to say and make use of anything that 
might advance their cause, although it were otherwise 
but light and trivial, or perhaps also contrary to what 
themselves believed; and so, on the other side, to 
conceal and reject whatsoever might prejudice their 
cause, though otherwise true and allowable. 

Now that thia observation may not seem strange 
and incredible, as coming out of my mouth, let us 
hear what the Fathers themselves say in this particu- 
lar. And first let us hear Jerome, who was the 
greatest critic of them all; and who, by often exer- 

Dg the strength of his admirable wit, both by him- 
self and with others, has observed more respecting 
the style, method, natural disposition, and opinions 
of the Fathers, than any other. 



150 PRIVATE OPINIONS OF THE FATHERS 

"W r e have learned together, (says he, writing to 
Pammachius,) that there are divers sorts of discourse; 
and among the rest, that it is one thing to write 
yuiivo.o~LY.coc, (by way of disputation,) and another 
thing to write ooyp.arty.coc, (by way of instruction.) In 
the former of these the disputes are free and discur- 
sive; where, in answering an adversary, and proposing 
one time one thing, and another time another, a man 
argues as he pleases; speaking one thing and doing 
another; showing bread, (as it is in the proverb,) and 
holding a stone in his hand. Whereas in the second 
-kind, an open front, and, if I may so speak, ingenu- 
ousness are required. It is one thing to make inqui- 
ries, and another to define: in the one we must fight, 
in the other we must teach. Thou seest me in a 
combat, and in peril of my life; and dost thou come 
with thy grave instructions like some reverend school- 
master? 'Do not wound by stealth, and from whence 
thou art least expected: let thy sword strike direct- 
ly: it is a shame for thee to wound thy enemy 
by guile and not by strength:' as if it were not a 
piece of the greatest mastery in fighting to threaten 
one part, but hit another. I beseech you read De- 
mosthenes, read Tully: and lest perhaps you should 
refuse orators whose profession it is to propose things 
rather probable than true, read Plato, Theophrastus, 
Xenophon, Aristotle, and others; who, springing all 
from Socrates' fountain, as so many different rivulets, 
ran several ways: what can you find in them that is 
clear and open? what word in them but hath its 
design ? and what design, but of victory only ? Ori- 
gen, Methodius, Eusebius, Apollinaris, have written 
largely against Celsus and Porphyry. Only observe 
what manner of arguments, and what slippery pro- 
blems, they made use of, for subverting those works 
which had been wrought by the spirit of the devil: 
and how on being sometimes forced to speak, they 
alleged against the Gentiles, not that which they 



FREQUENTLY CONCEALED OR DISGUISED. 151 

believed, but that which was most necessary to be 
said. I shall not here speak anything of the Latin 
writers, as Tertullian, Cyprian, Minucius, Victorinus, 
Lactantius, and Hilary, lest I might seem rather to 
accuse others, than to defend myself."* 

Thus Jerome. As for that which he afterwards 
adds, respecting Paul, whom he believes to have prac- 
tised the very same arts, this is no proper place to 
examine either the truth or the use of this opinion of 
his; as our purpose is here to treat of the Fathers 
only. Now you see that he testifies clearly, that they 
were wont, in their disputations, sometimes to say one 
thing, and believe another; to show us bread, and 
keep a stone in their hand ; to threaten one part, and 
to hit another ; and that they were sometimes con- 
strained to fit their words, not to their own proper 
thoughts, but to the present necessity. The very same 
thing is confessed also by Athanasius, speaking of 
Dionysius Alexandrinus,f as noticed before; namely, 

* Simul didicimus plura esse videlicet genera dicendi, et inter 
caetera aliud esse yvfAvantxas scribere, aliud fcy/ucirtxw. In priori 
vngam esse disputationem, et adversario respondentem nunc hsec, 
nunc ilia proponere, argumentari ut libet, aliud loqui, aliud agere, 
in, (ut dicitur) ostendere, lapidcm tenere. In sequenti auteni 
aperta Irons, et, ut ita dicam, ingenuitas necessaria est. Aliud est 
quaerere, aliud definire: in altero pugnandum, in altero docendum 
est. Tu me stantem in prcelio, et de vita periclitantem, studiosus 
ister doceas? Noli ex obliquo, et unde non putaris, vulnus 
re. Directd percute gladio. Turpe tibi est hostem dolis ferire, 
DOS viribus. Quasi non et hsec ars summa pugnantium sit, alibi 
minari, alibi percutere. Legite obsecro vos Demosthenem, legite 
Tullium: ac ne forsitan rhetores vobis displiceant, quorum art:- eel 
Terisimilia magis quam vera dicere, legite Platonem, Theophrastum, 
Xenophontem, Aristotelem, et reliquos qui de Socratis fonte ma- 
nantes diversis cucurrere rivulis; quid in illis apertum, quid sim- 
plex est 1 quae verba nonsensuum? qui sensus non victoria? Con- 
siderate quibus argumentis, et quam lubricia problematibus diaboli 
spiritu contexts Bubvertant; et quia interdum coguntur loqui, non 
quod sentiunt. Bed quod nccesse est, dicunt adversus eaqnedicuut 
Gentile-. Taceo de Latinis scriptoribus, TertuUiano, CyprS 
Minncio, Victorino, Lactantio, Hilario, ne non tarn me defendisse, 
quam alios videar - 

f Athvn. en. de fide Dion. Alex. 



152 PRIVATE OPINIONS OP THE FATHERS 

that he wrote, not simply and plainly, as giving us an 
account of his own belief, but that he was moved, and 
as it were forced, to speak as he did, by reason of the 
occasion, and of the person he disputed against. 

The same account does Basil give of a certain pas- 
sage of Gregorius Neocassariensis ;* answering for 
him with this distinction; "That he spake not in that 
place dogmatically, but only by way of economy or 
dispensation:" Ta xar olxovofxtov ypacpo^eva^ By 
this term is meant, that a man keeps to himself what 
he believes, and proposes some other thing lying 
wide of his own opinion, either this way or that way; 
being induced so to do from some particular con- 
siderations. 

As we sometimes see that the water ascends, being 
forced to mount up to fill some space, which otherwise 
would remain void, — you will not, I hope, conclude 
from hence, that this is its natural and ordinary mo- 
tion, — in like manner was it with the Fathers; who, 
being sometimes harassed and hard driven to it in 
disputation, in order to avoid, so to speak, some cer- 
tain vacuum which they were afraid of, sometimes left 
their natural motion, and their proper sense and 
opinion, and took up some other contrary one, accord- 
ing to the necessity of the occasion. Indeed, though 
Jerome had not noticed it, the fact would evidently 
enough have appeared from their writings. Other- 
wise, how could any one possibly have believed that 
they could have spoken so differently as they have 
done in many particulars, blowing hot and cold with 
one and the same mouth? How could they possibly 
have delivered so many things contrary either to rea- 
son, or to the Scriptures, or to the Fathers? "For, 
(as the same Jerome says) who is so very a blockhead, 
and so ignorant in the art of writing, as to praise and 
condemn one and the same thing; pull down what he 

* Basil, sup. c. 5. f Athan. ep. de fide Dion. Alex. 



FREQUENTLY CONCEALED OR DISGUISED. 153 

had built; and build what he had pulled down?"* 
Now the Fathers are often observed to have done this 
very thing. We are therefore to conclude, that they 
have been forced to it, out of some special design; 
and that they did it, as they used to speak, by econo- 
my, or particular dispensation ; seeing that it is evi- 
dent that the greatest part of them were very able 
men. 

Jerome, for example, recommending the going on 
pilgrimage to Jerusalem, went so far as to say, "that 
it was a part of our faith to go and worship in those 
places where the feet of our Saviour once stood, and 
to have a sight of the tracks, which at this day con- 
tinue fresh, both of his nativity, cross, and passion. "f 
Now how does this agree with that long discourse 
which he has made in another place, to a quite con- 
trary sense? namely, in his Epistle to Paulinus, 
where at last concluding, he gives him this reason of 
the length of his discourse: " To the end (says he) 
that thou mayest not think that anything is wanting 
to the completing of thy faith, because thou hast not 
visited Jerusalem ; or that we are any whit the better 
for having the opportunity of dwelling in this place. "J 
And here he concurs with Gregory Nyssen, who has 
written a discourse expressly against the opinion of 
those "who account it to be one of the parts of piety 
to have visited Jerusalem :" — Ilepc zcov drrovzcov ei{ 
1 JepOGoAufia, &c. olz, iv {tepee eiHrefteeac; veisopLcarac to 
tout; ip hpoaokofuocQ zorzouz coscv.§ 

* Quia enim tarn hebes, ct sic in scribendo rudis est, ut idem 
laudet et damnet, aedificata destruat, et destructa ffidificet? — ffier. 
cj>. 50, ad J'"///. 

f Certe adorasse ubi steterunt pedes Domini, pars fidei est, &c. 
— Efier. ep. ad Desider. quce est 144. 

J Quorsam (inquies) luec tarn longo repetiti principio? Vide- 
ne quidquam fidei tuae deesse putes, quia Hierosolymam non 
vidisti, Qec aoa idcircd melio imes qu6d hujus loci habita- 

culo fruiinur. — Id. ep. 18. ad Paulin. 

\ €hfl in Ep. Turn. 2. 

14 



154 PRIVATE OPINIONS OF THE FATHERS 

Let any rational man therefore now judge, whether 
or not this course must not necessarily embroil and 
enshroud in almost inexplicable difficulties the writings 
of the Fathers. For how is it possible that Ave should 
be able to judge when they speak as they thought, 
and when not? whether they mean really what they 
say, or whether they make but a flourish only ? whe- 
ther the bread which they show us be to deceive or to 
feed us ? whether the problems they propose be solid 
or slippery ones ? whether their positions be dog- 
matical, or economical? Certainly, if our court judg- 
ments were framed after this manner, we should 
never hope to have an end in any suit of law. As for 
that which Jerome says, " that an intelligent and 
favourable reader ought to judge of those things 
which seem harsh, from the rest of the discourse, and 
not immediately to condemn an author for having 
delivered, in one and the same book, contrary opin- 
ions;"* I confess that this is very true: but yet it 
does not remove the difficulty. For however intelli- 
gent and discerning a man the reader may be, it will 
very often be impossible for him to form a right judg- 
ment in this particular: as for example, when those 
other things are wanting, which Jerome would have 
a man to make the measure of his judgment; or 
when any one brings us no more of an author than 
a bare sentence — the chapter and book where these 
words are, which need to be explained, being quite out 
of his memory. How many such are adduced every 
day in our disputations? What can we now do, or 
which way shall we turn ourselves, if meeting with a 
passage from any of the Fathers that needs to be ex- 
plained, we can find no other place in him on the 
same point; or if there be none found but what is as 

* Debuerat prudens et benigmis lector etiam ea quse videntur 
dura sestimare de cseteris, et non in uno atque eodem libro crimi- 
nari me diversas sententias protulisse. — Hier. ep. 50. ad Pam. 



FREQUENTLY CONCEALED OR DISGUISED. 155 

doubtful as the other, or that is not controverted in 
some other book ? 

Who shall regulate us amidst such contradictions as 
these? But, what is yet worse, those things which 
Jerome prescribes us tor a rule and direction to our 
judgment, are now in these days of ours very unsea- 
sonable ; as being harsh as to the one side, and pleasing 
to the other, according to men's several affections and 
interest, agreeably to which they are wont to interpret 
ami judge of the Fathers, whereas we should rather 
search in them which way we are to direct our judg- 
ments. And that favourableness which Jerome re- 
quires in us cannot be here of any use, but may pos- 
sibly besides do very much harm. For the greater 
the regard we bear to any Father, the greater care and 
pains shall we take in vindicating his words, and in- 
terpreting them in a sense as far different as we can 
from what we have long since condemned as erroneous 
and unsound; though possibly this may have been his 
real sense and opinion. As for example in those pas- 
sages before cited out of Jerome and Gregory Nyssen, 
the Protestant accounts that a very harsh piece of 
doctrine, which however his adversary is well pleased 
with: the one labours to explain what appears very 
easy to the other: the one takes that for text, which 
the other accounts but as a gloss. And thus the 
greater affection men bear to the name and authority 
of any one of the Fathers, the more do they labour 
and use their utmost endeavours to bring him over to 
speak to their opinion; that is to say, in plain truth, 
to force him out of his own: it being impossible that 
he should hold both opinions at once. 

We shall here therefore conclude, that however 
clear and express the words of the Fathers may be, 
yet nevertheless will it often happen, that we cannot 
hav< that we have their sense express- 

ed in them; whether it be, in their Expositions of the 



156 THE DOCTRINES OF THE FATHERS 

Scriptures; or in their Homilies and Sermons before 
the people; or lastly, in their Disputations with their 
adversaries regarding their Faith. 



CHAPTER VII. 

Reason VII. — The Fathers have not always held the same doc- 
trine; but have changed some of their opinions, according as 
their judgment has become matured by study or age. 

Amongst all the ecclesiastical writers, those of the 
Old and New Testament only have received the know- 
ledge of Divine things by an extraordinary inspira- 
tion. The rest have acquired their knowledge by the 
ordinary means of instruction, reading, and medita- 
tion; so that this knowledge came not to them in an 
instant, as it did to the others, but increased by de- 
grees, ripening by little and little in proportion as 
they grew in years: whence it is, that their writings 
are not all of the same weight, or of the same value. 
For who sees not, that what they, as it were, sport- 
ingly wrote in their younger years, is of much less 
consideration than those other productions which they 
wrote in their mature age ? Who, for instance, would 
equal the authority of that epistle of Jerome to Helio- 
dorus* (written by him when he had but newly left 
the schools of Rhetoric, being yet a child, and full of 
that innocent and inconsiderate heat which usually 
accompanies those years,) to that of those other graver 
pieces which he afterwards gave to the Church, when 
he had arrived at his full strength and ripeness of 
mind, and to the perfection of his studies? 

Augustine has left us a remarkable testimony, that 
the Fathers profited by age and study in the know- 

*Hier. ep. 1. ad Heliodor. Vid. ep. 2, ad Nepot. 



HAVE SOMETIMES CHANGED. 157 

ledge of the truth, when, as in his old age, taking pen 
in hand, he reviewed and corrected all that he had 
ever written during his whole life; faithfully and in- 
genuously noting whatsoever he thought worthy of 
reprehension, and giving us all his animadversions 
collected together in the Books of his Retractations, 
which in my judgment is the most glorious and most 
excellent of all those many monuments which he has 
left to posterity; whether you consider the learning, 
or the modesty and sincerity of the man. 

Jerome reports that Origen also, long before, had in 
his old age written an epistle to Fabianus, bishop 6f 
Rome, wherein he confesses that he repented of many 
things which he had taught and written.* Neither is 
there any doubt but that some similar thing may have 
happened to most of the other Fathers, and that they 
may have disallowed of that which they had formerly 
believed as true. 

Now from this consideration there arises a new 
difficulty, which we are to grapple with in this our 
inquiry into the true and genuine sense of the Fathers 
respecting our present controversies. For, seeing that 
the condition and nature of their writings are such, it 
is most evident that when we would make use of any 
of their opinions, it will concern us to be very well 
assured that they have not only sometimes either held 
or written the same, but that they have moreover per- 
Bevered in them to the end. Whence Vincentius Liri- 
nensis,f in that passage of his which is so often urged, 
for making use of the ancient authors in deciding our 
present controversies, thinks it not fit that we should 
be bouD 1 to receive whatsoever they have said, for 
certain and undoubted truth, unless they have assured 
and confirmed it to us by their perseverance in the 

la qnam scribit ad Fabianum, Romans 
urbifi tentiam agit car talia scripserit, &e. — -liter. 

ribus Origenis. 

y Vincent. Lirinens. lib. adv. Novit. scu Common. 
14* 



158 THE DOCTRINES OF THE FATHERS 

same. Cardinal Perron also evidently shows us the 
same way, by his own practice : for, disputing about 
the Canon of the Holy Scriptures, (which he pretends 
to have been always the very same in the Western 
Church, with that which is delivered to us by the 
Third Council of Carthage, where the Maccabees are 
reckoned in among the rest,) and finding himself 
hardly pressed by some certain passages alleged by 
the Protestants out of Jerome to the contrary, he an- 
swers the objection, by saying, among other things, 
that this Father, when he wrote the said passages, was 
ilot yet come to the ripeness of his judgment, and 
perfection of his studies;* whereas afterwards, when 
he was now more fully instructed in the truth of the 
sense of the Church, he changed his opinion, and re- 
tracted (as this cardinal says) both in general and in 
particular, whatsoever he had before written in those 
three Prologues, where he had excluded the Macca- 
bees out of thexsanon.f And so likewise to another 
objection brought to the same purpose out of the 
Commentaries of Gregory the Great, he gives the like 
answer, saying that Gregory, when he wrote that 
piece, was not yet come to be Pope, but was a plain 
Deacon only, being at that time employed at Constan- 
tinople as the Pope's nuncio to the Greeks. 

Now these answers of his are either insufficient, or 
else it will necessarily follow from hence, that we 
ought not to rest certainly satisfied in the testimony 
of any Father ; except we first^be assured, that not 
only he never afterwards retracted that opinion of 
his ; but that besides, he wrote it in the strength and 
ripeness of his judgment. And seGknow how we are 
fallen into a new labyrinth. For, first of all, from 
whence and by what means may we be able to come, 
truly and certainly, to the knowledge of this secret ; 
since we can hardly meet with any conjectures, tend- 

* Perron's Rcpl. 1. 1. c, 50. f Id - Ibid - 



HAVE SOMETIMES CHANGED. 159 

ing to the making of this discover} 7 , namely, whether 
a Father has in his old age changed his opinion on 
that point for which it is produced against us or not? 

If they had all of them been either able or willing 
to imitate the modesty of Augustine, we should then 
have had little left to trouble us. But you will hardly 
find any, either of the ancients, or of those of later 
times, that have followed this example; unless it be 
cardinal Bellarminc, who has lately thought good to 
revive this piece of modesty which had lain dead and 
buried for the space of so many ages together, by 
writing a Book of Retractations, which is very differ- 
ently received by the learned of both religions. Yet, 
if you are fastidious upon it, with cardinal Perron, 
and will not allow the saying of a Father to be of any 
value, unless it were written by him after the matu- 
rity of his studies, I shall then despair of our ever 
making any progress, so much as one step forward, 
by this means, in the business in hand. For both 
parties will say, on every testimony that shall be pro- 
duced against them, How do we know whether this 
Father had arrived at the maturity of his judgment 
when he wrote this book, or not ? Who can tell 
whether or not, those days of his life that he enjoyed 
after the writing thereof, might not have bestowed 
clearness on his understanding, as well as whiteness 
on his head; and have changed his judgment as well 
as his hair ? 

We will here suppose that no such thing appears 
in any of his other writings. How many authors arc 
there who have changed their opinions, and yet have 
not retracted what they had formerly written? But 
suppose now that we should have lost that particular 
tract wherein the author had given testimony of the 
changing of his opinion, what should we do in this 
eaBe? If time should have deprived us of Augustine's 
Retractations, and some other of his later writings, 
as it has of an infinite number of other productions, 



160 THE DOCTRINES OF THE FATHERS 

both of his and of the other Fathers, which would 
have been of as great importance to us, we must cer- 
tainly have thought that he had believed that the 
cause of predestination is the prescience or foreseeing 
of the faith of men; if we only read what he says in 
one of the books which he first wrote, " That God 
has not elected the works of any man, according to 
his prescience ; seeing that it is he himself that gives 
the same to a man; but that he has elected his faith 
by his prescience; that is, he has elected those who 
he foresaw would believe his word; that is to say, 
he made choice of them to bestow his Holy Spirit 
upon ; that so by doing good works they might attain 
everlasting life."* 

Now the Pelagians and Semi-Pelagians would have 
brought this passage as an infallible argument that 
Augustine was of their opinion, but that his Retracta- 
tions, and his other books which were written after- 
wards, clearly make it appear that this argument is 
of no force at all; forasmuch as this learned Father, 
having afterwards better considered of this point, 
wholly altered his opinion: "I had not (says he) as 
yet diligently enough inquired into, nor found out, 
what the election of grace was, whereof the Apostle 
speaks in these words: 'There is a remnant (to be 
saved) according to the election of grace;' which cer- 
tainly is not grace, if any merits preceded it; so that 
what is given should be rendered rather as due to 
merits, than as given freely by grace, "f 

Now who knows but that among those Fathers 
whom we so confidently adduce every day, some of 
them may have retracted those things which we at 

* Non ergo elegit I)eus opera cujusquam in praescientia, quae 
ipse daturas est: sed fidem elegit, &c. — August. Exposit. guar, 
prop, ex ep. Rom. proposit. 60. 

f Nondum diligentius quresiveram nee aclinic inveneram, qualis 
sit Electio Gratiee, de qua idem dicit Apostolus, Reliquiae, &c. — 
Id. Retract. 1. 1, cap. 23. 



HAVE SOMETIMES CHANGED. 161 

this day read in their works; and that time may have 
devoured the retractations of their opinions, and may 
have left us only their errors? Besides, who knows 
and can truly inform us what date their writings 
bear? whether they were the fruits of their spring of 
life, or of their summer, or of their autumn? whether 
they were gathered green, or were suffered to ripen 
upon the tree? Doubtless this whole inquiry is very 
intricate; there being scarcely any mark of their sea- 
son of life to be found in the greatest part of them. 
There are indeed some few of them that have some of 
these marks, but yet they are so doubtful and uncer- 
tain, that the most able and distinguished critics are 
sometimes deceived in their inquiry on this matter. 

When all is done, who knows not that there are 
some trees that bear their summer fruit even in the 
very beginning of the summer, when the spring time 
is as yet hardly past? And again, the fruits which 
are gathered at the end of the later season are not 
always the ripest: for time, instead of ripening, many 
times rots them. In like manner is it also with men, 
and consequently with the Fathers. Sometimes their 
summer yields much more and better fruit than their 
autumn. For as for the winter, that is to say, the 
last part of our age, it is evident that it usually brings 
forth nothing at all : or if it do chance to force itself 
beyond nature, the fruits it brings forth are yet worse, 
and more crude and imperfect, than those even of the 
spring. 

Seeing therefore it is for the most part impossible 
to give any certain judgment of these things, either 
by the history of these authors, or by their books 
themselves: and that again on the other side, without 
this, we ought not to depend upon anything we find 
in their writings, by supposing we have discovered 
what their opinions have been : we may safely conclude 
in this matter also, as we have done in the former 
chapter, that it is very difficult to know truly and 



162 ON THE SEVERAL OPINIONS 

precisely what the opinions and sense of the ancients 
have been, as regards the differences at this day exist- 
ing among Christians. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

Reason VIII. — It is necessary, but nevertheless difficult, to discover 
how the Fathers have held all their several opinions; whether as 
necessary or as probable only; and in what degree of necessity 
or probability. 

Logic teaches us that true propositions are not all 
equally so: some of them being contingent only, as 
the schools speak, and others being necessary: and 
again, both being more or less either contingent or 
necessary, according to that admirable division which 
the philosopher has made into those three degrees of 
necessity, explained by him in the first book of his 
Demonstrations: — Kara navzoQ, xaff abzo, xadoloo 

7Zf)(DTOV* 

Hence it comes to pass, that the knowledge or igno- 
rance of these degrees is the more or less important 
in those sciences whereunto they appertain; there 
being some of them, as those which they call princi- 
ples, that are so necessary, that a man cannot be igno- 
rant of them, without overthrowing the whole science 
wherein they ought to have place: and there being 
others again, on the contrary side, that a man may be 
ignorant of, so far as to hold their contradictories for 
true, and yet nevertheless not run any great hazard. 
As, for example, these following are philosophical prin- 
ciples of the first sort: namely, " that there is mo- 
tion:" and " that everybody occupies some certain 
p]ace, ,, and the like. For what strange philosophy 
would it be, that should either be ignorant of or should 

*Arist. Poster. Analyt. 



HELD BY THE FATHERS. 163 

deny these principles? But these following are of 
the second sort: namely, "that there are precisely 
but five senses in living creatures: and "that the 
heavens are not of an elementary substance," and the 
like. 

Although these propositions are by most held to be 
true, yet notwithstanding are they not so necessary, 
but that a man may pass for a philosopher, and yet 
not only be ignorant of those positions, but may also, 
if he please, maintain even those things that are con- 
tradictory to them.- Now if there be any science 
where this consideration ought carefully to be applied, 
it is, in my judgment, in that of divinity. For there 
is a very great difference between the truths of which 
it consists: some of them being evidently more neces- 
sary than others, as Origen proves plainly in his 
twenty-seventh Homily upon Matthew. Only com- 
pare these two propositions together: "Christ is 
God;" and " Christ suffered death, being of the age 
of thirty-four, or thirty-five years." Who sees not that 
though both these propositions are true, yet notwith- 
standing there is a vast difference between them. For 
the former of these is necessarily true; that is to say, 
it is impossible but that Christ should be God; the 
salvation of mankind, which is the end of our religion, 
being otherwise not possible to be obtained. But as 
to the second, notwithstanding that it is true, and is 
collected clearly enough out of the Scriptures, yet is 
it not at all necessary. For Christ might, if he had 
so pleased, have suffered at the fortieth or fiftieth year 
of his age, without any prejudice at all to our salva- 
tion, which was the end of his suffering. 

According to this diversity of degrees, the belief or 
ignorance of these two propositions are also of very 
different importance. The first of them we may not 
be ignorant of, and much less deny, without renoun- 
cing Christianity. The second we may be ignorant 
of, and even deny too, as supposing it false, yet with- 



164 ON THE SEVERAL OPINIONS 

out any great danger. To be able therefore to come 
to a clear and perfect understanding what was the 
sense of the Fathers, touching the points of religion 
at this day controverted amongst us, it is necessary 
that we should know not only whether they believed 
them or not, but also how they believed or did not 
believe them : that is to say, whether they held them 
as propositions necessarily or probably either true or 
false; and, moreover, in what degree either of neces- 
sity or probability they placed them. 

That this inquiry is very necessary, cardinal Perron 
has clearly demonstrated, in that learned epistle of his, 
written to Casaubon, against king James. The king 
attributing to himself the name of Catholic, under pre- 
tence that he believed, and held all those things that 
the Fathers of the first four or five centuries did; the 
cardinal denies his inference ; replying, among other 
things, that to be of the communion of the ancients, a 
man ought not only to believe what they believed, 
but also to believe it in the same manner and in the 
same degree that they did : that is, to believe as neces- 
sary to salvation whatever they believed as necessary 
thereto ; and to believe as profitable to salvation what 
they held for such: and as lawful and not repugnant 
to salvation, what they held as lawful and not repug- 
nant to salvation. Thus he goes on, and gives us a 
long and exact division of the different degrees of 
necessity, which may and ought to be considered in 
all propositions on religion. 

I could sincerely wish that the occasion had carried 
on this learned prelate so far as to have made an 
exact application of this doctrine, and to have truly 
informed us (of what the greatest part of the world is 
at this day ignorant) in what degree each point of the 
Christian faith is held, either by the Church of Rome, 
or by the ancient Fathers; and what things are abso- 
lutely necessary in religion, and what are those other 
things that are necessary under some certain condi- 



HELD BY THE FATHERS. 1G5 

tions only: which again arc necessary by the neces- 
sity of the means; and which, by the necessity of the 
precept, (as he there speaks;) that is to say, which 
arc those things that we ought to observe, either by 
reason of their profit, as being means which are pro- 
fitable to salvation; and which we are to observe, by 
reason of the commandment only, being enjoined us 
by such an authority as we owe obedience to: and 
moreover, after these points, which all and every of 
the faithful are bound to believe expressly ; and which 
are those that it is sufficient to believe in gross only, 
and by an implicit faith: and lastly, which are those 
things that we ought actually to do; and which are 
those that it is sufficient if we approve of them only, 
though we do them not? So that it appears clear, 
out of these words of his, that to be able to know 
what the doctrines of the Fathers have been, espe- 
cially in the points now in dispute, w r e ought first to 
be assured in what degree they believed the same. 
That this distinction was of very great consideration 
with the ancient Church, appears sufficiently from the 
special regard which it always had to it; opening or 
slanting the door against men, first of all, according 
to the things which they believed or did not believe; 
secondly, according to the different manner they be- 
lieved or did not believe them. For it excommuni- 
cated those who rejected the things that it held as 
necessary; and so likewise those who pressed as 
things necessary such as it held for things probable 
only. But it received, with all the suavity imagina- 
ble, all those who either were ignorant of, or doubted, 
or indeed denied, those things which it accounted 
true, yet not necessarily so. This appears clearly 
from an epistle w r ritteri by Irenrcus to Victor, bishop 
of Rome, cited by Easebins, in his Ecclesiastical His- 
tory:* where this holy man testifies, that although 

* Hist l. seb. lib. 5, cap. 24, Codicifl Grseoi, cap. 26. 

lo 



166 ON THE SEVERAL OPINIONS 

there had been, before Victor's time, the same differ- 
ence between the Asiatic and the Romish Church, 
touching the celebration of Easter; yet notwithstand- 
ing they lived in peace and mutual amity together; 
neither were any of the Asiatic bishops ever excom- 
municated at Rome, for their dissenting from them, 
either in this or in any other point; but rather the 
contrary; for on Poly carpus coming to Rome, in the 
time of Pope Anicetus, after they had a conference 
on the differences between them, and each of them 
continued still firm in his former opinion ; they still 
did not forbear holding fair correspondence with each 
other, and to communicate together; Anicetus also, 
out of the respect he bore to Polycarpus, allowing 
him the use of his own church, to celebrate the Eu- 
charist in. 

Tertullian, in his book "De Prseseriptionibus ad- 
versus Hsereticos," requires only that the rule of 
faith, (as he calls it) should continue in its proper 
form and order ; allowing every man, in all other par- 
ticulars, to make what inquiries and discourses he 
pleased, and to exercise his curiosity to the utmost 
liberty;* which is an evident argument, that he ad- 
mitted into his communion all those who, not contra- 
dicting the rule of faith, broached any other opinions; 
that is, if they held them as probable only, and pro- 
posed not anything which was contrary to the rule of 
faith. 

The author of the Apology of Origen,f published 
by Ruffinus, under the name of Pamphilus, was of the 
same opinion. For having confessed that Origen, if 
he held not, yet published certain very strange opi- 
nions on the state of the soul before the birth of man, 
and on the nature of the stars, he maintains that 

* Csetei urn manente forma ejus in suo ordine, quantumlibet 
quaeras, et tractes, et omnem libidinem curiositatis effundas, &c. 
Tertul. de Prescript . adoers. Ilceret. Vid. I. de Virg. vel. I. 1. 

f Apol. Orig. inter opera Origen. 



HELD BY THE FATHERS. 167 

these opinions do not presently make a man a here- 
tic; and that even among the doctors of the Church 
there was diversity ot" opinion on the same. 

Besides all this, it is evident that this difference of 
judgment is even at this day to be found in the Church 
of Rome; where you shall find the Dominicans and 
the Franciscans maintaining opinions entirely contra- 
dictory to each other, on the conception of the Virgin 
Mary; the one maintaining that she was conceived 
without sin, whereas the other utterly deny it. And 
that which makes me wonder the more is, that they 
suffer such contradictory opinions as these to be held 
amongst them, in such particulars as, considered 
barely in themselves, seem yet to be of very great 
importance. As for example, a man may either be- 
lieve that we ought to yield to the cross the adoration 
of Latvia; or, if he please, he may believe the con- 
trary; without losing, either by reason of the one or 
the other, the communion of the Church and salvation. 
Yet notwithstanding, if you but consider the thing in 
itself, it will appear to be a matter of no such indif- 
ference as people imagine. For if the former of these 
opinions be indeed true, then must those that are of 
the other opinion sin very grievously, in not worship- 
ping an object that is so worthy of adoration. But 
if it be false, then are those men that maintain the 
same, guilty of a much greater sin, by committing 
such horrible idolatry. 

What point is there in religion, that seems to be of 
greater importance than that concerning, the founda- 
tion and head of all ecclesiastical pov er, upon the 
authority of which the whole faith and state of the 
Church depends? And yet on this particular also, 
which is of such great consequence, do they suffer 
men to maintain contradictory opinions ; some attri- 
buting this dignity to the Pope, and others to a gene- 
ral council. 

If the opinion of the first of these be true, then is 



168 ON THE SEVERAL OPINIONS 

the faith of the latter built upon a very erroneous 
ground:* but if the opinion of the latter be true, then 
does the faith of the former depend upon a cause 
which is not infallible ; and consequently is null. 
Now these different opinions are reconciled, by saying 
that the Church accounting neither of these doctrines 
as necessary to faith, a man is not at once a heretic 
for holding the false opinion of the two, nor yet is he 
to be accounted orthodox, merely for holding the true 
one. 

Seeing therefore that this particular concerns the 
communion of the Church, and our salvation also, 
which depends thereon, it will behove us to know cer- 
tainly in what degree the ancients placed those articles 
which are at this day so eagerly pressed upon the 
Protestants; and whether they held them in the same, 
or in a higher, or else in a lower degree of necessity 
than they are now maintained by the Church of Rome. 
For unless this be made very clear, the Protestants, 
though they should confess (which yet they do not) 
that the Fathers did indeed really believe the same, 
might yet allege for themselves, that, notwithstanding 
all this, they are not bound to believe the same; inas- 
much as all opinions in religion are not at once obli- 
gatory, and such as all men are bound to believe; 
seeing that there are some that are indeed necessary, 
but some others that are not so. They will answer 
likewise, that these opinions are similar to those at 
this day controverted between the Dominicans and 
the Franciscans ; or to those other points debated 
between the Sorbonnists and the Regulars ; wherein 
every one is permitted to hold what opinions he 
pleases. They will urge for themselves the determi- 
nation of the council of Trent ;f which in express 
terms distinguishes between the opinions of the Fa- 

* Perron. Repl. 1. 4, in Prsefat. 

f Cone. Trident. Sess. 21, cap. 5, extr. et Can. 4. 



HELD BY THE FATHERS. 169 

thers : where having thundered out an anathema against 

all those that should maintain that the administering 
of the Eucharist was necessary for little infants, they 
further declare that this thunderbolt extended not to 
those ancient Fathers who gave the communion to 
infants; inasmuch as they maintained and practised 
this from being moved thereunto upon probable rea- 
sons only, and not accounting it necessary to sal- 
vation. 

Seeing therefore that some errors which have been 
condemned by councils, may be maintained in such a 
certain degree, without incurring thereby the danger 
of their thunderbolts; for the same reason a man may 
be ignorant of, and even deny some truths also, with- 
out running the hazard of being anathematized. Who 
can assure us (the Protestants may further add) that 
the articles which w T e reject are not of this kind, and 
such as, though perhaps they may be true, it is never- 
theless lawful for us to disbelieve? My opinion there- 
fore is, that there is no man now T that sees not that it 
concerns the doctors of the Romish Church, if they 
mean to convince their adversaries out of the Fathers, 
first to make it appear to them that the ancients held 
the said points, not only as true but as necessary also, 
and in the very same degree of necessity that they 
now hold them. Now this must prove a matter of 
extreme difficulty, and much greater here than in any 
of the other points before proposed. And I shall 
adduce no other argument for the proof of this than 
that very decree we cited before, where the council 
of Trent has declared that the Fathers did not admin- 
ister the Communion to infants, "out of any opinion 
that it was necessary to salvation, but did it upon 
some other probable reason only."* For we have 

illi Patron bui facta probabilem causam 
lliua temporifi ratione habuerunt; ita 

sine controyersia tenendum est. — Condi, 

. 4. 

15* 



170 ON THE SEVERAL OPINIONS 

not only very good reason to doubt, whether the 
Fathers held this opinion and followed this practice 
as probable, only ; but it seems besides (with all rever- 
ence to that council be it spoken) to appear evidently 
enough out of their writings, that they did hold it as 
necessary. 

Only hear the Fathers themselves, and Augustine 
in the first place, who says, "that the Churches of 
Christ hold by an ancient, and as I conceive an apos- 
tolical tradition, that without Baptism and the Com- 
munion of the Lord's Table, no man can come either 
into the kingdom of God, or unto salvation or eternal 
life."* Afterwards having, as he conceives, proved 
this out of the Scriptures, he adds further : " seeing 
therefore that no man can hope either for eternal life 
or salvation without Baptism and the body and blood 
of Christ, ,, (thus does he call the Sacrament of the 
Eucharist, according to the language of his time;) 
"as has been proved by so many divine testimonies; 
in vain is it promised to infants without the partici- 
pating of these. "f Three chapters before, treating of 
those words of our Saviour in John, "Except you eat 
my flesh, and drink my blood, you can have no life in 
you," (which words Augustine understands, both there 
and elsewhere, of the Communion of the Eucharist,) 
he makes a long discourse to prove that they extend 
as well to infants as to people of maturer age. "Is 
there any man (says he) that dares affirm that this 
speech belongs not to infants also; or that they may 
have life in them, without participating of this body, 

* Ex antiqua, ut existimo, et apostolica traclitione Ecclesisa 
Christi insitum tenent, praeter Baptismum et participationeni Do- 
minicse mensse, non solum ad regrium Dei, sed nee ad salutem, et 
vitam seternam posse quenquam hominum pervenire. Hoc enim et 
Scrip tura testatur, &c. — Aug. I. 1, de Peccat. Mor. et Remiss. 

f Si ergo, ut tot et tanta divina testimonia concinunt, nee sains, 
ncc vita seterna sine Baptismo, et corpore et sanguine Domini cui- 
quam spectanda est; frustra sine his promittitur i)arvulis. — Ibid. 



HELD BY THE FATHERS. 171 

and of this blood?"* And this is his constant man- 
ner of speaking, in eight or ten other passages in his 
works, which are too long to be here inserted. f 

Pope Innocent L, Augustine's contemporary, speaks 
also after the same manner; proving against the Pe- 
lagians that Baptism is necessary for infants, to render 
them capable of eternal life; inasmuch as wichout 
Baptism they cannot communicate of the Eucharist, 
which is necessary to salvation. J 

Cyprian also,§ long before them, spake to the very 
same sense: and this Maldonate affirms to have been 
the opinion of the first six centuries. || 

These things being considered, we must infer either 
that the council of Trent, by its declaration, has made 
that which has been, to be as if it had never been, 
which is a power that the poet Agatho in Aristotle 
would not allow to God himself: Movoo ya[> aurou 
xa: 6z(K ttrepetrxeraij Ayz^^za tzocscv ciaa dv ij r:s7:oay- 
fMieva :^[ or else that the Fathers of this council, either 
out of forgetfulness or otherwise, mistook themselves 
in this account of theirs respecting the opinion of the 
ancient Church in this particular: which in my judg- 

* An verd quisquam etiam hoc dicere audebit, quod ad parvulos 
sententia non pertineat; possintque sine participations cor- 
ls hujua et sanguinis in so habere vitam, &c. — Id. ibid. c. 20. 
I i. t. 2, ep. 106, ep. 107, ep. poster, ib. Mar. 1. 2. contr. Pel. 
3, 1. 1. contr. 2. ep. Pelag. ad Bon. cap. 22, et 1. 4, c. 
4, 1. 1. contr. Jul. et 1. 3, c. 1, et c. 12, lib. de Prsadest. Sanct. ad 
Pr-.^p. c. 13, Hypomn. 1. 5 et 6, Tract. 120, in Job. Serm. 32, de 
Ap. 
J Ilkid vero quod eos vestra fraternitas asserit prsedicare, par- 
Yuloa ©teniae vitae pnemiis, etiam eiae baptismatia gratia | 
donari, perfatnom est. Nisi enim mandncaverint carnem filii 
hominiw, et biberint Bangninem ejus, non habebunt vitam eeternam 
in semeti] sis. /■ c. w ep. ad. Milevit. Synod, quce est inter ep, 
16. — -Vid. Aug. 1. 2, contr. 2ap. Pela I lib. 1, contr. 

Jul. 

prian. lib. 8, Test ad Qui. c. 26. 

istini el Lnnocentii I. aententiam, qua? 
nit in EScclesia, Eucharisti am etiam infan- 
\faldon. in Joan. c. 6. num. 1 16. 
4 . ad Aristot Eth. ad Nicom. 1. 7. c. 2. 



172 ON THE SEVERAL OPINIONS 

ment is the more favourable and the more probable 
conceit of the two: and if so, I shall then desire no 
more. For if these great personages, who were 
chosen with so much care and circumspection out of 
all parts of Christendom, and sent to Trent, to de- 
liberate upon and determine a matter of the greatest 
importance in the world ; and were directed by the 
legates of such supereminent wisdom, and digested 
their decrees with a judgment so mature and delibe- 
rate, that there is scarcely one word in them without 
its design — if after all this, I say, these men should 
be found to have erred in this inquiry, in affirming 
that the Fathers held only as probable that which they 
evidently appear to have held as necessary, if Pope 
Pius IV., with his whole consistory, consisting of so 
many eminent and wise men, has approved and con- 
firmed this mistake of theirs, not perceiving it at all — 
what can we, or indeed what ought we, to expect from 
any other hands, whosesoever they be, as regards the 
points now controverted between us ; in comparison 
with which, a man may very well say, that all the dif- 
ficulty which this matter now presents is nothing at 
all; wherein, notwithstanding, this whole council mis- 
took itself? Where shall we find a man, that after 
this failing of theirs, can have the courage to adven- 
ture upon so difficult and so intricate an undertaking? 
Who can promise himself success there, where so 
great a council has failed? The very hope of effect- 
ing so weighty a matter can hardly be excused from 
the guilt of high presumption. For, first of all, the 
Fathers tell us very seldom in what degree, either of 
necessity or probability, they held their opinions : and 
even when they do tell us, their expressions being 
such as we have observed of them, we ought not at 
once to conclude anything from them, without first 
examining them thoroughly. For many times, when 
they would recommend to us such things as they ac- 
counted profitable for us, they would speak of them 



HELD BY THE FATHERS. 173 

a? if they had been necessary: and so again, to take 
off our belief of and to divert our affections from such 
things as they conceived either to be simply false, or 
otherwise unprofitable for us, they represented them 
as the most detestable and pernicious things. " Who- 
soever (said Ignatius) fasts upon the Lord's day, or 
upon any Saturday (meaning Easter-eve,) he is a 
murderer of Christ:" — Ei zee; KopeaxrjV) v) aaftftaxov 
pjpcrrcusf, ithju kvo$ aafiftaroo, odvos Xptezoxcovos iazc* 

Who would not think, hearing these tragical ex- 
pressions of his, that certainly he was speaking of the 
very foundation of the whole Christian religion ? And 
yet the business he there speaks of was only the ob- 
servation of a certain part of a positive law, and 
which yet (as most are of opinion) was at that time 
received but by a part only of the Church ; the belief 
and observation whereof was so far from being classed 
among those things that were necessary, that it was 
scarcely placed in the first degree of probability ; and 
is now at length utterly abolished. 

This manner of discoursing is very frequently used 
by Tertullian, Ambrose, and especially by Jerome; 
who are all so enthusiastic for the side they espouse, 
that you w T ould think, in reading them, that all those 
whom they commend were really angels; and all 
those whom they speak against were arrant devils; 
that whatsoever they maintain, is the very foundation 
and ground-work of the Christian religion; and what- 
soever they refute is mere atheism, and the highest 
impiety. 

Certainly Jerome, writing to a certain Roman 
matron, named Furia, who was a w 7 idow, and dis- 
suading her from marrying again, f discourses of this 
matter in the very same manner as he would have 
done in dissuading her from the committing of murder. 

Here we are to call to mind again the various rea- 

* Ignat. ep. 4, ad Phil. f Hicron. cp. 10, ad Furiam, torn. 1. 



174 ON THE SEVERAL OPINIONS 

sons for the obscurity of the Fathers, and particularly 
that of their rhetoric, all which have place in this 
particular rather than in any other. So that there 
seems to be but one only certain way left us to dis- 
cover in what degree they placed the propositions of 
Christian doctrine; namely, their creeds and exposi- 
tions of their faith, whether they were general, or 
particular ones; and the determinations of their coun- 
cils and ecclesiastical assemblies. For we may very 
well believe that they held as necessary all such 
points as they made profession of; anathematizing all 
such as should deny the same. By this rule we may 
indeed assure ourselves that they held as necessary 
the greatest part of all those points wherein we at 
this day agree among ourselves. Some of these we 
have already noticed in our preface: for they are 
most of them either delivered expressly in their creeds, 
or else positively determined in their councils; and 
the deniers of them are there expressly condemned. 
But yet this rule will scarcely be of any use in the 
decision of our present controversies. For some of 
them appear not at all, either in that Rule of Faith 
so often mentioned by Tertullian, or in the Nicene 
creed, or in that of Constantinople, or in the determi- 
nations of the council of Ephesus, or in those of 
Chalcedon. The first of these councils anathematized 
Arius ; the second Macedonius; the third Nestorius; 
and the fourth Eutyches: and yet nevertheless are 
the several tenets of these very men at this day re- 
ceived, and maintained by one side or other. Nay, 
what is more, the aforesaid articles do not appear at 
all in the two following councils; namely, the second 
council of Constantinople, which condemned certain 
writings of Theodorus, Theodoretus, and Ibas, as we 
have noticed before : nor yet in the third council of 
Constantinople, which anathematized the Monothe- 
lites, and was held about the year of our Lord 681. 
Yet have these first six councils (if you believe the 



HELD BY THE FATHERS. 175 

Fathers of the Beventh) u established and confirmed 
all those things which had been taught in the Roman 
Catholic Church from the primitive times, whether by 
writing or by unwritten tradition." Havca va tjuhl- 
iodevra i^ z^ xaOoXncn ixxtyeeoCj zat iyy<><ufa)^^ xtu 
dyy/.cco:, ix zluv dpfflvev yoovcov, aurou [Sex Synodi 
Oecumenicse) xou ifteftcuaxrav, xat i(T7Y /t oc~av.* It will 
hence follow, that these points, which appear not 
here in the said first six councils at all, were not 
taught from the beginning, either in writing or other- 
wise. 

About the eighth century how T ever, and for a good 
while afterwards, we find mention of one of those 
points now controverted among us, namely, that re- 
lating to images; which w T as diversely and contrarily 
determined in the councils of Constantinople, of 
Nicsea, and of Frankfort; the second of these coun- 
cils enjoining the use and adoration of images; 
whereas the first had utterly forbidden it: and the 
last of these councils taking off, and correcting, as it 
were, the excesses of the other two. What can you 
say to this, that even in the writings of particular 
men, which yet are usually more copious than the 
determinations of councils are, there is no mention 
made of the said points? 

Epiphanius,f in the conclusion of his Treatise on 
Heresies, gives us two discourses; in the one of which 
he notes down the order, customs, and discipline of 
the Church in his time: wherein I must say, that 
there are many things which much differ from the 
customs that are at this day observed by us on both 
sides. In the other is contained an exposition of the 
faith of the Church set down at large, which he calls 
"the pillar of the truth, the hope and assurance of 

nod. 7. Act. 6, Refill >;. a >d. [conocl. 
pliun. in Pan&r. 1. 3, et in AnacephaL 



176 ON THE SEVERAL OPINIONS OF THE FATHERS. 

immortality:" — Touto to ipeta/m rqz&hjd&as, ^ £.Xtcc£ 
xat s q fizfiauoatc, ttjz aydapotaz* 

Yet of all those controversies which are at this day 
disputed amongst us, you will there meet with one 
only; and that is the local descent of our Saviour 
Christ into hell: which yet is an article of very small 
importance, as every one knows. In the acts of the 
sixth council we have a synodical epistle of Sophro- 
nius, patriarch of Jerusalem ;f wherein, as the usual 
custom was, he explains the faith, in a very ample 
and particular manner: and yet, notwithstanding, you 
will not there meet with any of those points which are 
now controverted amongst us. 

Those that search more closely into the business, 
will be apt positively to conclude from this their 
silence, that these points were not at that time any 
part of the doctrine of the Church : and certainly this 
kind of argument seems not to want reason. But as 
regards myself, it is sufficient that the truth of my 
assertion is confirmed; that it is, if not impossible, at 
least a very difficult thing to discover in what degree, 
either of necessity or probability ', the ancient Fathers 
held each of those points, which are now disputed 
amongst us; seeing that they appear not at all, either 
in the expositions of 'their faith, or in the determina- 
tions of their councils, which are, as it were, the cata- 
logues of those points of doctrine, which they ac- 
counted necessary. 

* Epiphan. in Panar. 1. 3, et in Anacephal. 
| Concil. vi. Act. 2. 



OPINIONS DIFFICULT TO DISCOVER. 177 



CHAPTER IX. 

Reason IX. — We ought to know what have been the opinions, not 
of one or move of the Fathers, but of the whole ancient Church: 
which is a very difficult matter to discover. 

Those who make the most account of the writings of 
the Fathers, and who urge them the oftenest in their 
disputations, inform us, that the value of their senti- 
ments in these matters arises from the fact, that they 
are so many testimonies of the general sense and 
judgment of the Church; to which alone these men 
attribute the supreme power of judging in controver- 
sies of religion. For if we should consider them 
severally, each by himself, and as they stand by their 
own strength only, they confess that they may chance 
to err; so that it will hence follow, that in order to 
make use of the testimonies of the Fathers, it is not 
sufficient for us to know whether such or such senti- 
ments be truly theirs, and if so, what the meaning of 
them is; but we ought further also to be very well 
assured that they are conformable to the belief of the 
Church in their time: in the same manner as in a 
court of judicature, the opinion of any single person 
on the bench is of no weight at all, as to the passing 
of judgment, unless it be conformable to the opinion 
of all the rest, or at least of the major part of those 

elit. 

Now observe how we are fallen again into new diffi- 
culties. Whence and by what means can we learn 
whether the whole Church, in the time of Justin Mar- 
ty)', or of Augustine, or of Jerome, maintained the 
same opinions in every particular that these men 
severally did, or not? I confess that the charity of 
these men was very great; and that they very heartily 
and constantly embraced the body and substance of 
the belief of the Church, in .all particulars, that they 



178 DIFFICULTIES OF DISCOVERING^ 

saw apparently to be such. But where the Church 
did not at all express itself, and clearly declare what 
its sense was, they could not possibly, however great 
their desire of so doing, follow its authority as the 
rule of their opinions. Wheresoever therefore they 
treat of points which were long since decided, be- 
lieved, and received, expressly and positively, by the 
whole Christian Church, either of their own age, or 
of any of the preceding ages, it is very probable that 
they conformed to what was believed by the Church: 
so that, in these cases, their sentiments may very well 
pass for a testimony of the judgment and sense of the 
Church : it being very improbable, that they could be 
either ignorant what was the public doctrine of the 
Church; or that knowing the same, they would not 
follow it. As for example, when Athanasius, Am- 
brose, Jerome, Augustine, and others, discourse on the 
Son of God, they speak nothing but what is conform- 
able to the belief of the Church in general, because 
the belief of the Church had then been clearly and 
expressly delivered upon this point; so that whatso- 
ever they say, as to this particular, may safely be 
received as a testimony of the Church's belief. The 
same may be done in all the other points which have 
either been positively determined in any of the gene- 
ral councils, or delivered in any of the creeds, or that 
any other way appear to have been the public belief 
of the Church. 

If the Fathers had but contained themselves within 
these bounds, and had not taken the liberty to treat 
of anything, save what the Church had clearly de- 
livered its judgment upon, this rule might then have 
been received as a general one; and, whatever opinion 
we found in them, we might safely have concluded it 
to have been the sense of the Church as existing in 
their time. But the curiosity of man's nature, to- 
gether with the impudence of the heretics, and the 
tenderness of conscience, whether of their own, or of 



THE OPINIONS OF THE ANCIENT CIIURCn. 179 

others, and divers other reasons perhaps, having partly 
made them willingly, and partly forced, and as it 
Were, constrained them to go on further, and to pro- 
ceed to the search of the truth of several points, which 
had not as yet been established by the universal and 
public consent of all Christians; it could not be avoid- 
ed, but that necessarily they must in these inquiries 
make use of their own proper light, and must deliver 
upon the same their own private opinions, which the 
Church, that came after them, has since either em- 
braced or rejected. 

I shall not here stand to prove my opinion, since it 
is a thing that is confessed on all hands, and whereof 
the Romanists make special use upon all occasions, 
in answering several objections brought against them 
out of the Fathers. As, for example, where cardinal 
Bellarmine excuses the error of Pope John XXII. on 
the state of departed souls before the Resurrection;* 
by saying, that the Church, in his time, had not as yet 
determined anything as to this particular. So like- 
wise, where he applies the same salvo to that (in his 
judgment) unsound opinion of Pope Nicolas I., who 
maintained that Baptism, administered in the name of 
Jesus Christ only, without expressing the other per- 
sons of the Holy Trinity, was, notwithstanding, valid 
and effectual. t "This is a point (says Bellarmine) on 
which we find not the Church to have determined any 
thing." And however dangerous and almost hereti- 
cal the opinion of those men seems to him, who hold 
that the Pope of Rome may fall into heresy; yet does 
he permit Pope Adrian to hold the same, not daring 
to rank him among the heretics, because the Church 
had QOt as yet clearly and definitively expressed itself 
on this point. 

* Bellarm. de Rom. Pont. 1. 4, c. I L Sect. Etespondeo ld pri- 
mis, 
f N >M invenitur alia certa definitio Be bac re. — Id. 



180 DIFFICULTIES OF DISCOVERING 

The same Bellarmine, in another controversy of 
great importance, regarding the Canonical Books of 
the Old Testament, (finding himself closely put to it, 
by his adversary's urging against him the authority 
of Jerome, who casts Tobit, the Book of Wisdom, 
Ecclesiasticus, and the Maccabees, out of the Canon, 
contrary to the judgment of the Church of Rome, 
which receives them now,) gets over this objection 
after the same manner. "I confess (says he) that 
Jerome held this opinion, because no general council 
had as yet ordained anything regarding these books." 

Seeing therefore that it is most clear, both from the 
confession of our adversaries, and from the considera- 
tion of the thing itself, that the Fathers have in their 
writings circulated many of their own particular 
opinions, digested out of their own private medita- 
tions, and which they had not learnt in the school of 
the Church — who sees not, that before we give any 
certain credit to their sentiments, Ave ought first to be 
assured of what nature they are? Whether they were 
their own particular opinions only, or the public sense 
of their age: since it is confessed by all, that those of 
the former kind are not always necessarily obligatory, 
but are such as oftentimes may, and sometimes ought 
to be rejected, without any scruple at all. 

You may urge perhaps to a Protestant, that Jerome 
worshipped the relics of departed saints. How shall 
I know, (will he reply upon you again) whether this 
was his private opinion only, or not? If the authority 
of this Father, for want of being grounded upon some 
public declaration of the Church, could not bind Bel- 
larmine to receive his opinion on the Canon of the 
Old Testament, why should this opinion of his, which 
is not any whit better grounded than the other, per- 
suade me to the worship of relics? The same reply 
will he make, and many times with much more appear- 
ance of reason, concerning divers other testimonies 
produced out of the Fathers. So that, whether you 



THE OPINIONS OF THE ANCIENT CHURCH. 181 

-would confirm your own faith, or whether you would 
wrest out of your adversary's hand this manner of 
reply, and make good all such allegations, it will be- 
hove you to make it clear, concerning any passage 
whatever that you shall urge out of a Father, that it 
is not his own private opinion, but was that of the 
Church itself wherein he lived: which, in my judg- 
ment, is a thing that is more difficult to be demon- 
strated, than any of those matters we have yet dis- 
coursed upon. For those means by which we might 
easily attain to this knowledge are w r anting, and those 
which we have left us are very feeble, and very in- 
conclusive. 

If the Fathers themselves had but taken so much 
pains, as to have distinguished betwixt these two sorts 
of opinions, informing us, in every particular case, 
which were their own private ones only, and which 
were taught by the whole Church; or, at least, had 
but proposed some of them as doubtful, and others 
again as asmred truths, in the same manner as Origen 
has sometimes done, they would indeed have aided 
us very much ; though, to say the truth, they would 
not have wholly cured us of our grief: forasmuch as 
sometimes (as we shall hereafter make it appear,*) 
they attribute to the Church those things which it is 
most evident it never held. Yet they very seldom 
make any such distinction, but commonly express 
their own private opinions in the same manner as 
they do those publicly received; and sometimes also, 
by reason of the partial feelings to which these 
authors might chance naturally to have been subject, 
we have them recommending to us with much more 
hat which they have conceived, and brought 
forth t ban that which they have received 

ii any other hand; so that we shall meet with very 
little in them that may afford us any light in this 
particular* 

* Infra, 1. 11. c. 1. 

16* 



182 DIFFICULTIES OF DISCOVERING 

There would be left us yet another aid in this busi- 
ness, by comparing that which they say here and 
there throughout their writings, with the public opin- 
ions of the Church, which would be rather a safe and 
certain rule to go by, had we anywhere else, besides 
their books, any clear and certain evidence what the 
belief of the Church has been, in each distinct age, on 
all points of religion : and if this were so, we should 
not then need to trouble ourselves with studying the 
writings of the Fathers, seeing that we read them for 
no other purpose, but only to discover out of them 
what the doctrine of Christendom has been on those 
points which are at this day controverted among us. 
Yet there is no man but knows that this aid is want- 
ing to us. For, setting aside the creeds, and the de- 
terminations of the first six General Councils, and of 
some few of the Provincial, you will not meet with 
any work of this nature throughout the whole stock 
of antiquity. 

Now (as we have already made it appear in the 
preceding chapter,) the ancient Church has not any 
where declared, either in its creeds or in the aforesaid 
councils, what the opinion and sense of it has been, 
on the greatest part of those points which are now in 
dispute amongst us ; it followeth therefore, that by 
this means we shall never be able to distinguish, in 
the writings of the Fathers, which were their own pri- 
vate opinions, and which they held in common with 
the rest of the Church. 

If we could indeed learn, from any creditable 
author, that the present controversies had ever been 
decided by the ancient Church, we should then rea- 
dily believe that the Fathers would have followed this 
their decision: and then, although the Constitutions 
themselves would not perhaps have come down to our 
hands, yet notwithstanding should we be in some sort 
obliged to believe, that the Fathers, who had both 
seen and assented to the same, would also have de- 



THE OPINIONS OF THE ANCIENT CHURCH. 183 

livered over the sense of them unto us in their writ- 
ings. But we meet with no such thing in any author: 
for it rather appears evidently to the contrary, 
through the whole course of ecclesiastical history, 
that these matters were never so much as started in 
the first ages of Christianity; so far are they from 
having been then decided. So that it manifestly ap- 
pears from hence, that if the Fathers of those primi- 
tive times have by chance said anything of them, they 
took not what they said from the determinations of 
the Church, which had not as yet declared itself on 
the same, but expressed rather their own private 
thoughts and opinions. 

Neither will it be to any purpose to object here, 
that the testimonies of many Fathers together do re- 
present to us the sense of the Church, although the 
voice of one or two single persons only is not sufficient 
to do the same. For, not to answer that what has 
happened to one may have happened to many others, 
and that, if some particular persons chance to have 
fallen into some particular opinions, possibly others 
may either have accompanied or else have followed 
them in the same — I say further, that this objection 
is of no force at all in this particular. For, seeing 
that the Church had not as yet declared its opinion 
publicly on the points at this day controverted, it is 
as impossible that many together, that lived in the 
same time, should represent it to us, as that one 
single person should. How could they possibly have 
seen that which lay as yet concealed? How could 
they possibly measure their belief by such a rule, as 
was not yet visible to the world? 

The Chiliasts* adduce the testimonies, not of one, or 
of two, but of a very great number of the most emi- 
nent and the most ancient among the Fathers, who 
were all of their opinion, as we shall see hereafter. 

■• Millennarians.- Edit* 



184 WHETHER THE OPINIONS OF THE FATHERS 

The answer that is ordinarily made to this objection, 
is, that the Church having not as yet declared its 
sense on this point, the testimonies of these men bind 
us not to believe the same ; which is an evident argu- 
ment, that a great number, in this case, signifies no 
more than a small one, in representing to us what the 
belief of the Church has been; and that it is neces- 
sary, that either by some General Council, or else by 
some other public way, it must have declared its judg- 
ment on any question in dispute; in order that we 
may know whether the Fathers have been of the same 
opinion or not. So that, according to this account, 
we are to raise up again the whole ancient Church, 
and to call it to account on every one of these par- 
ticular points now discussed, on which the testimo- 
nies of the Fathers are adduced; it being impossible 
otherwise to give any certain judgment, whether what 
they say is their own private opinion, or that of the 
public ; that is to say, whether it be fit to be believed 
or not. 

Thus any man, even of the meanest judgment, may 
easily perceive that it is not only difficult, but almost 
impossible, to draw from the writings of the Fathers 
such information as is necessary for our satisfaction 
in matters of so great importance. 



CHAPTER X. 

Reason X. — It is very difficult to ascertain whether the opinions 
of the Fathers, as to the controversies of the present day, were 
received by the Church universal, or only by some portion of it; 
this being necessary to be known, before their sentiments can be 
adopted. 

Suppose that one of the Fathers, relieving us in this 
difficult or rather impossible business, should tell us, 
in express terms, that what he proposes is the sense 



WERE RECEIVED BY THE CHURCH UNIVERSAL. 185 

and opinion of the Church in his time; yet this would 
DOt quite extricate us from the doubtful condition we 
are in. For, besides that their words are many times, 
in such cases as these, liable to exception, suppose 
that it were certainly and undoubtedly so; yet it 
would concern us then to examine what that Church 
118, of which he speaks; whether it w T as the Church 
universal, or only some particular Church; and 
whether it was that of the whole world, or that of 
some city, province, or country only. 

Now that this is a matter of no small importance is 
evident, because the opinions of the Church universal 
in points of faith are accounted infallible, and neces- 
sarily true ; whereas those of particular Churches are 
not so, but are confessed to be subject to error. So 
that the question being here about the faith, which 
ought not to be grounded upon anything save Avhat 
is infallibly true, it will concern us to know what the 
judgment of the Church universal has been; seeing 
the opinion of no particular Church can do us any 
service in this case. And that this distinction is also 
otherwise very necessary, appears evident by this; 
because the opinions and customs which have been 
commonly received by the greatest part of Christen- 
dom, have not always immediately taken place in 
each particular Church; and again, those which have 
been received in certain particular Churches have not 
been entertained by all the rest. Thus we find in 
history, that the churches in Asia Minor kept the 
feast of Easter upon a different day from all the other 
parts of Christendom: and although the matter itself 
seems to be of no very great importance, yet never- 
theless it caused a great sensation in the Church; 
Victor, bishop of Rome, by reason of this little differ- 
ence, excommunicating all Asia Minor.* 

Now each party here alleged their reasons, and 

- Euseb. Ili.-t. Ecoles. 1. o, o. 2 3, ~!. <ec. 



186 WHETHER THE OPINIONS OF THE FATHERS 

apostolical tradition also, for what they did ; speaking 
with such great confidence in the justification of their 
own opinion, that on hearing them individually a man 
would really believe that each of their opinions was 
the very sense of the whole Church; which notwith- 
standing was only the opinion of one portion of it. 

The greatest part of Christendom held the baptism 
of heretics to be good and effectual:* and received all 
those, who, forsaking their heresy, desired to be ad- 
mitted into the communion of the Church, without 
rebaptizing them ; as appears out of Cyprian, who 
confesses that this had also been the custom formerly, 
even in the African Churches themselves. Yet not- 
withstanding Firmilianus, archbishop of Csesarea in 
Cappadocia, testifies that the Churches of Cappadocia 
had immemorially believed and practised the con- 
trary, f They had also, in his time, so declared and 
ordained, together with the Churches of Galatia and 
Cilicia, in a full synod, held at the city of Iconium. 
About the same time also Cyprian and the bishop of 
Africa entered on the same affair, and embraced this 
opinion of rebaptization of heretics. The acts of the 
council held at Carthage are yet extant ; where you 
have eighty-seven bishops, who with one unanimous 
consent established the same. 

The custom at Rome, in Tertullian's time, was to 
receive into the communion of the Church all fornica- 
tors and adulterers, after some certain penances which 
they enjoined them. Tertullian, w 7 ho was a Mon- 
tanist, exclaimed fearfully against this custom, and 
wrote a book expressly against it ; which is also ex- 
tant among his works at this day. Who now, that 
should read this work of his, would not believe that 

* Cypr. ep. 71, et ep. 75, quae est Firmil. 

f Caeterum nos veritati et consuetudinem jungimus: et consuetu- 
dini Romanorum consuetudinem veritatis opponimus; ab initio hoc 
tenentes quod a Christo et ab Apostolis traditum. est. — Firmil. ep. 
ad Cypr. quce cat 75 inter ep. Cypr. 



WERE RECEIVED BY THE CHURCH UNIVERSAL. 18T 

it was the general opinion of all Catholics, that such 
sinners were not to be excluded from penance and 
the communion of the Church? Yet for all this, it is 
evident, out of a certain epistle of Cyprian,* that 
even some of the Catholic bishops of Africa were of 
the contrary persuasion : and the Jesuit Petavius is 
further of opinion, that this indulgence was not al- 
lowed nor practised in the Churches of Spain, till a 
long time after; and that the ancient rigour, which 
excluded for ever such offenders from the communion 
of the Church, was in practice among them, till the 
time of Pacianus, bishop of Barcelona, who left not 
any hopes of ecclesiastical absolution, either to idola- 
ters, murderers, or adulterers; as may be seen in his 
Exhortation to Repentance. f 

In the year of our Lord 364, the council of Laodi- 
cea ordained, J that none but the canonical books of 
the Old and New Testament should be read in 
churches, giving us moreover a catalogue of the said 
books, which amount in all, in the Old Testament, to 
the number of twenty-two only; without making any 
mention at all of those other books which cardinal 
Perron calls posthumous, namely, Ecclesiasticus, the 
Book of Wisdom, the Maccabees, Judith, and Tobit. 
All the canons of this council were afterwards in- 
serted in the code of the Church universal, where 
you have this very canon also, Num. 163; that is as 
much as to say, they were received as rules of the 
Catholic Church. 

Who would believe now, but that this declaration 
of the canon of the Scriptures was at that time re- 
ceived by all Christian Churches? And yet, notwith- 
standing, you have the Churches of Africa meeting 

ether in the Synod at Carthage, § about the year 

t Parian. P Poenit. t. 8, Bibl. PP. p. 71. 

I 68. 

. iii. can. 17. 



188 WHETHER THE OPINIONS OF THE FATHERS 

of our Lord 397, and ordaining quite contrary to the 
former resolution of Laodicea, that among those books 
which were allowed to be read in churches, the Mac- 
cabees, Judith, Tobit, Ecclesiasticus, and the Book of 
Wisdom, (which two last they also reckon among the 
books written by Solomon,) should be taken into the 
number. 

Who knows not the difference there was in the first 
ages of Christianity, between the Eastern and the 
Western Churches, respecting the fasting on Satur- 
days;* the Church of Rome maintaining it as lawful, 
and all the rest of the world accounting it unlawful? 
Whence it was that we had that bold canon passed in 
the council at Constantinople, in Trullo, in these 
words: "Understanding that in the city of Rome, in 
the time of the holy fast of Lent, they fast on Satur- 
days, contrary to the custom and tradition of the 
Church, it seems good to this holy council, that in 
the Roman Church they inviolably also observe that 
canon, which says, that whosoever shall be found to 
fast either upon the Lord's day, or upon the Satur- 
day, (excepting only that one Saturday) if he be a 
clergyman, he shall be deposed; but if he be of the 
laity, he shall be excommunicated. "f 

Who knows not in how many different ways the 
fast of Lent was anciently observed in various 
Churches, an account of which is given by Irenseus, 
in that pious epistle of his which he wrote to Victor; 
part whereof Eusebius inserts in his Ecclesiastical 
History?J Who knows not also, that the opinions 
and expressions of the Greek Church, on Free-will 
and Predestination, are very different from what the 
Church believed and taught in Augustine's time, and 
afterwards? 

As to the Discipline of the Church, only hear 

* Vid. Petav. in Epiph. p. 359. 

f Can. Synod. Quininsext. Can. iv. 

% Iren. ap. Euseb. Hist. Eccles. 1. 5, cap. 26. 



WERE RECEIVED BY THE CHURCH UNIVERSAL. 189 

Anastasius Bibliothccarius, upon the sixth Canon of 
the Seventh General Council, which enjoins all Metro- 
politans to hold provincial synods once a year: "Nei- 
ther let it at all trouble thee (says he) that we have 
not this decree; seeing that there are some others 
found among the canons, whose authority nevertheless 
we do not admit of. For some of them are in force, 
and are observed in the Greek Church only; and 
others again only in certain other provinces. As for 
example, the sixteenth and seventeenth canons of the 
council of Laodicea are observed only among the 
Greeks; and the sixth and the eighth canons of the 
council of Africa are received by none but the Afri- 
cans. * 

I could here produce various other examples ; but 
these may suffice to show that the opinions and cus- 
toms which have been received in one part of the 
Church, have not always been entertained in all the 
rest. Whence it evidently follows that all that is 
acknowledged as the opinion or observation of the 
Church, ought not therefore at once to pass for a uni- 
versal law. 

The Protestant alleges, for justifying his canon of 
the Scriptures, the council of Laodicea, before men- 
tioned. You answer him perhaps that this indeed 
was the opinion of the Churches; but it was only of 
some particular Churches. I shall not here enter 
into an examination, whether this answer be well 
grounded or not: it is sufficient for me that lean then 
safely conclude from hence, that according to this ac- 
count, before you can make use of any opinion or tes- 

* Nee te moyeat, si banc definitionem minimd nos habemus: cum 

rum uonnullas, quag inter canones habemus, in auctoritatem 

recipiamus; sicut quasdam ex conciliis. Aliae namque apud 

mum, alisa vcio apud cartas tantum provincias in obser- 

9Bumnntar: sieut Laodicensie concilii 16 et 

apud Gh rvantur: < t African] concilii 6 et 

8 cannula, qua nulla provincia serrare, nisi Africana, itur. 

• — . 1 , 1 Hiotn. ad ( , 6, ( .76 

17 



190 WHETHER THE OPINIONS OF THE FATHERS 

timony out of any of the Fathers, it is necessary that 
you first make it appear, not only that it was the opi- 
nion of the Church at that time; but you must further 
also clearly demonstrate to us, what Church's opinion 
it was; whether of the Church universal, or else of 
some particular Church only. It is objected against 
the Protestants, that Epiphanius* testifies that the 
Church admitted not into the higher orders of the 
ministry, any save those that were virgins, or pro- 
fessed continency. Now to make good this allega- 
tion, it is necessary that it be first proved, that the 
Church he there speaks of was the Church universal. 
For (the Protestant will reply) as Laodicea had, it 
seems, a particular opinion on the canon of the Scrip- 
tures; possibly also Cyprus may in like manner have 
had its particular resolutions as to the ordination of 
the clergy. The same may be said of the greatest 
part of those other allegations and opinions of the 
ancient Church. 

Now how difficult a business it will be to clear these 
matters, which are so full of perplexity; and to dis- 
tinguish the writings of antiquity at this great dis- 
tance of time, separating that which was public from 
what was particular, and that which was provincial 
from what was national, and what was national from 
that which was universal — any man may be able to 
imagine ; but none can thoroughly understand, except 
he who has made the trial. Only conceive to your- 
selves a city, that has lain in ruins a thousand years, 
nothing of which remains but the ruins of houses, 
lying all along confusedly here and there ; all the rest 
being covered over with thorns and bushes. Imagine 
then that you have met with one that will undertake 
to show you precisely where the public buildings of 
the city stood, and where the private ones: which 
were the stones that belonged to the one, and which 

* Epipha. Haer. 59, torn. 1. 



WEB1 RECEIVED BY THE CUURCn UNIVERSAL. 191 

belonged to the other; and, in a word, who will in 
these confused heaps, where the whole lies all toge- 
ther, separate for you, notwithstanding, the one from 
the other. The very same task in a manner does he 
undertake, who thus endeavours truly and precisely 
to distinguish the opinions of the ancient Church. 

This antiquity is now of eleven or twelve hundred 
years' standing : and the ruins of it are now only left 
us in the books of the writers of that period; which 
have indeed met with none of the best treatment in 
their passage through the several ages down to our 
time; as we have before shown. How then can we 
entertain the least hope that, amidst this so great 
confusion, we should be able yet to distinguish the 
remains, and to tell which of them honoured the pub- 
lic temple, and which went to the furnishing of pri- 
vate chapels only? especially considering that the 
private ones have each of them ambitiously endea- 
voured to make their own pass for public. For where 
is the province, or the city, or the doctor, that has 
not boasted of his own opinions and observations as 
apostolical, and not used his utmost endeavours to 
gain them the repute of being universal? Jerome 
allows every particular province full liberty to do 
herein as it pleases. "Let every province (says he) 
abound in its own sense, and hold the ordinances of 
their ancestors as apostolical laws."* 

It is true indeed, that Jerome speaks in this place 
only of certain observations of things which are in 
themselves indifferent But yet, that which he has 
permitted them in these matters, they have practised 
in all -others. I shall not here trouble myself to pro- 
duce any other reasons, to prove the difficulty of this 
inquiry, because I should then be forced to repeat a 
great part of that which has been already noticed. 



* Onaqtiseqne pr bundetinsensnstio, e1 prmcepta major- 

am L< dtretur. — Huron, ep. 28 ad Lucinum, 



192 IMPOSSIBILITY OF KNOWING EXACTLY 

If it be a very difficult matter to attain to any cer- 
tain knowledge what the sense of the writings of the 
Fathers is, as we have proved before, how much more 
difficult a thing will it be, to discover whether their 
opinions were those of the particular Churches wherein 
they lived, or else were the opinions of the Church 
universal in their age; the same things which cause 
obscurity in the one having as much or rather more 
reason for doing the like in the other. And if you 
would fully understand how painful an undertaking 
this is, only read the disputations of the learned of 
both parties on this point; where you will meet with 
so many doubts and contradictions, and such diversity 
of opinions, that you will easily conclude, that this is 
one of the greatest difficulties to be met with through- 
out the whole study of antiquity. 



CHAPTER XL 

Reason XI. — It is impossible to know exactly what has been the 
belief of the ancient Church, either universal or particular, as 
to any of those points which are at this day controverted amongst 
us. 

Before we proceed to the Second Part of this trea- 
tise, it may not be irrelevant to give the reader this 
last advice, and let him know that, though all these 
difficulties before represented were removed, it would 
still be impossible for us to know certainly, out of the 
Fathers, what the judgment of the whole ancient 
Church, whether the Church universal, or only a con- 
siderable portion of it, has been, as regards the differ- 
ences which are now agitated in religion. 

Now that we may be able to make the truth of this 
proposition appear, it is necessary that we should first 
of all explain the terms. 



TIIE BELIEF OF THE ANCIENT CHURCH. 193 

We understand commonly by the Church, (espe- 
cially in these disputations) either all those persons in 
general who profess themselves to be of the said 
Church, of what condition or quality soever they be; 
or else, in a stricter sense, the collective body of all 
those who are set over, and who are representatives 
of the Church; that is to say, the clergy. So that 
whether you speak of the Church universal, or of 
some particular Church — as, for example, that of 
Spain, or of Carthage — this term may be taken in 
either of these two senses. By the Church universal 
we understand either all those persons in general, 
who live in the communion of the Christian Church, 
whether they be of the laity or of the clergy; or else 
those persons only who are Ecclesiastici, or church- 
men, as we now call them. For in the primitive 
times, all Christians that lived in the communion of 
the Catholics were called JEcclesiasticL In like man- 
ner, by the Church of Carthage is meant, either gene- 
rally, all the faithful that lived in the particular 
communion of the Christian Church of Carthage; or 
else particularly, and in a stricter sense, the bishop of 
Carthage, with his whole clergy. 

Now I do not believe that there is any man, but 
will easily grant me, that if we take the Church in 
the first sense, it is impossible to know, by way of 
u-timony given of the same, what the sense and 
judgment of it have beer in each distinct age, as to 
all the points of the Christian religion. We may in- 
deed collect, by way of discourse, what has been the 
belief of the true members of the Church. For there 
being some certain articles, the belief of which is 
necessarily requisite for the rendering a man such; 
whosoever rightly understands which these articles 
are, may certainly conclude that the true Church, 
whether universal or particular, has believed the 
same. But now, in the first place, this does not ex- 
tend to all the points of the Christian religion, but 
17* 



194 IMPOSSIBILITY OF KNOWING EXACTLY 

only to those which are necessary: besides which 
there are various others, concerning which we may 
have not only different but even contrary judgments ; 
and yet not thereby hazard the loss either of the com- 
munion of the Church, or of our inheritance of ever- 
lasting salvation. But this reasoning applies only to 
those who are the true members of the Church. As 
for those who make but an outward profession of the 
truth, it being not at all necessary that they should 
be saved, there is in like manner no more necessity 
for their embracing those beliefs which are requisite 
for that end. They may, under this mask, hide all 
kind of opinions, however impious they are. Lastly, 
that which makes most for our purpose is, that this 
knowledge is acquired by discourse; whereas we speak 
here of such a knowledge as is collected by the hear- 
ing of several witnesses, who give in their testimonies 
as to the thing which we would ascertain. Now the 
Fathers having written with a purpose of informing 
us, not what each particular man believed in their 
time, but rather what they thought fit that all men 
should have believed, we must needs conclude that 
certainly they have not told us all that they knew on 
this particular. And therefore partly their charity 
and partly their prudence may have caused them to 
pass by in silence all such opinions, either of whole 
companies, or of particular persons, as they conceived 
to be not so consonant to the truth. But supposing 
that they had not any of these considerations, and 
that they had taken upon them to give us a just ac- 
count, each man of the opinions of his particular 
church wherein he lived ; it is evident, however, that 
they could never have been able to have attained to 
the end of their design. For how is it possible that 
they should have been able to have learnt what the 
opinion of every single person was, amongst so vast a 
multitude, which consisted of so many several per- 
sons, who were of such different capacities and dispo- 



THE BELIEF OF THE ANCIENT CHURCH. 195 

sitions? Who will believe that Cyprian, for example, 
knew all the several opinions of each particular per- 
son in his diocese, so as to be able to give us an ac- 
count of the same? Who can imagine, but that 
among such a multitude of people as lived in the 
communion of his church, there must needs have been 
very many who differed in opinion from him, on 
divers points of religion? Even at this very day, 
that we may not trouble ourselves to look so high, we 
see by experience, that there is scarcely that parish 
to be found, however small, where there are not par- 
ticular persons that maintain, in many points of reli- 
gion, opinions different from those of their minister. 
But if we take a whole diocese together, and pass by 
all those who trouble themselves not at all with the 
difference of opinions in religion, whether it be by 
reason of their want of years, or their weakness of 
judgment, or their malice; and take notice only of 
the rest, dividing them according to the difference of 
their opinions; I am persuaded that that part which 
shall agree in all points with the bishop of that dio- 
cese, will many times be found to be the least. Let 
a bishop preach or write what he will, on the points 
which are now in controversy, he will scarcely repre- 
sent to you the opinions of half the people of his 
diocese. 

Now we must conceive that the temper of the 
world of old was no other than what it is at this pre- 
sent day; and therefore, for this very reason, the 
liberty of embracing what opinions a man pleased 
was much greater then than it is now; inasmuch as 
the Church of Home did not exercise its power then 
throughout Christendom so absolutely as it does now- 
adays:* neither did the pastors or the princes use 
that severity and rigour which is now everywhere 
practiced in our times, for the repressing this diversity 

* That is, at the commencement of the sixteenth century. — Ed. 



196 IMPOSSIBILITY OF KNOWING EXACTLY 

of opinions. We must therefore necessarily believe, 
that the opinions of the faithful were in those days 
altogether as different, if not much more than they are 
now. Whence it will also follow, that even the doc- 
tors themselves, who lived in those times, could not 
know all the different opinions of men, much less could 
they represent them to us in their writings. 

We shall not dwell any longer upon what no man 
can deny ; but shall rather proceed to the considera- 
tion of that which every one no doubt will be here 
ready to retort on us, respecting this particular; name- 
ly, that it is not necessary that we should know the 
opinions, in points of religion, of all individual persons, 
which are almost infinite in number, and for the most 
part very ill grounded and uncertain : but that it is 
sufficient, if we know what the belief has been of the 
pastors, and those who have been set over the Church: 
that is to say, of the Church taken in the latter sense. 
Yet I confess I do not see that this rule is so abso- 
lutely right, that we ought to adhere to it. For if we 
are to take the Church for the rule and foundation of 
our faith (as the authors of this reply pretend we 
ought to do,) the people, in my judgment, ought not 
then to be here excluded and passed by, as being of 
no consideration. I confess, the opinions of particu- 
lar persons are very different, one from the other; 
and the knowledge of some of them is very confined, 
and sometimes none at all. But yet^possibly this rea- 
son may chance to exclude even a good part of the 
clergy also from the authority to which they lay claim 
in this particular; as it cannot be denied that both 
ignorance and malice have oftentimes as great a share 
here, proportionably, as they have among the very 
people themselves. Who sees not, that if we must 
have regard to the capacity of men, there are some- 
times found, even among the plain ordinary sort of 
Christians in a Church, those that are more consider- 
able, both for their learning and piety, than the pas- 



THE BELIEF OF THE ANCIENT CHURCH. 197 

tors themselves? One of those Fathers, of whom we 
now discourse, has informed us, "That many times 
have the clergy erred; the bishop has wavered in his 
opinion ; the rich men have adhered in their judgment 
to the earthly princes of the world ; meanwhile the 
people alone preserved the faith entire/'* 

Seeing therefore that it may sometimes happen, 
and that it has also many times happened, that the 
clergy have held erroneous opinions, while the people 
held the true, it is very evident, in my judgment, that 
the opinion of the people in these cases ought not 
wholly to be neglected. Truly Cyprian tells us in 
divers places, that the Church in his time had the 
people in very great esteem ; no business of any im- 
portance being then transacted without communicating 
the same to the people; as maybe seen in the epistles 
of this Father: insomuch that "the greatest part of 
the people also were present at the council of Car- 
thage,"f where the question on the baptism of here- 
tics was debated; whereof we have already spoken 
somewhat a little before. But because this point is 
controverted, I shall pass it over this time. Let us 
therefore grant, (since our adversaries will needs have 
it so,) that it is sufficient in this case to know what 
the belief was of the Church, taken in the latter and 
stricter sense; that is to say, of the clergy: for even 
this way it is evident enough that it is a very hard, if 
not an impossible thing, truly to discover what it has 
been in each distinct age. For there is no less diver- 
sity of opinion among the clergy, than there is among 
the people; and many times too there is much more: 
being conversant in books usually reducing things into 
nicer subtilties, and giving occasion for raising divers 
opinions on the same. 

*Plemmqne clerna erravit; sacerdotum ntitavit sententia; di- 
ll] istiua terreno rege senserunt; populua (idem pro- 
priam reservavit — Ambros. Ser. 17. t. I. p. 726, 

f Prsesente etiam plebifi maxima parte. — Gypr. in Cone. Carthag. 
p. 3 f J7. 



198 IMPOSSIBILITY OF KNOWING EXACTLY 

Who is he that will undertake to give us an account 
what the opinion is of all the clergy of one city only, 
(I do not say of a kingdom, or of all Christendom) 
concerning all the articles of religion? Who would 
be able to perform this, if he should undertake it? 
Never was there more exact care taken, for the con- 
servation of uniformity in judgment among Christians, 
than is now at this day; when there is use made, not 
only of the censures and thunderbolts of the Church, 
but even also of the fire and the sword of the secular 
powers. Yet notwithstanding all this, how many 
ecclesiastical persons are there to be found, even in 
those very places where these rigorous measures are 
observed with the greatest strictness, even at Rome 
itself, and as it were in the Pope's own bosom, who 
differ very much in judgment respecting points of 
religion, both from their equals and from their supe- 
riors ? In France, where, by the blessing of God, the 
liberty of conscience is much greater than in other 
places, it would be a wonder, if, where four- clergy- 
men of the more learned and polite sort had met 
together, two of them should not, upon some point or 
other of the faith, differ in judgment from the main 
body of their Church. 

Here I have to entreat all those who follow Cas- 
sander in great numbers (who adore the monuments 
of the Fathers, and take whatsoever they find in him 
for the general sense of the ancient Christians,) only 
to turn their eyes back a little upon themselves, and 
to consider how many opinions they themselves hold, 
which are not only different, but even quite contrary 
to the Church, in the communion of which they live, 
and of which they profess themselves to be members, 
and by which indeed they subsist. The difference is 
here so great, that it seems to be, as it were, one state 
within another state, and one church within another 
church. Yet notwithstanding, when any of the doc- 
tors of that party to which they adhere, deliver unto 



THE BELIEF OF THE ANCIENT CHURCH. 199 

us, either in their definitions, or in their sermons, or 
in their books, the common sense and judgment of 
their Church, this intermixture of opinions quite dis- 
appears. They speak only of the opinions of others, 
passing by those of Cassander, which are contrary to 
them, in silence, as if they did not at all concern the 
Church of Rome. Yet it is very well known, even to 
us who live at this very day, that they are favoured 
and maintained by very many of the most eminent 
persons of the Roman clergy. And if this senseless 
sect, who forsooth think themselves much more re- 
fined in their opinions than the rest of the body 
whereof they are a part, should chance in time either 
to fall of itself, or be suppressed by force, the memory 
of them would so utterly come to nothing, that pos- 
terity would know nothing of their doctrines, except 
by conjecture. Every one will then suppose that the 
Church of Rome at this time held precisely to the 
doctrine and opinions that he reads in the decrees of 
Trent, and in other similar books : and yet notwith- 
standing we both know and see that among those very 
persons who have been anointed, consecrated, and 
preferred also by the said Church, there is a party 
that dissents from it in judgment on divers important 
articles of faith. We may therefore conclude that the 
ancient Church had also its Cassanders, and very 
many even among the clergy itself, who held opinions 
different from those which were the common belief of 
the Church, and which it hath at length by little and 
little sunk, as it were, under water, and wholly swal- 
lowed up; so that now there is not any trace of them 
left. 

Christianity was either different in the ancient 
times from what it is now, or else it was the same. If 
it was different, it is then a piece of mere sophistry, 
to endeavour to make it seem to be the same ; and a 
very great abuse to produce us, for this purpose, so 
many different testimonies from antiquity. If it were 



200 IMPOSSIBILITY OF KNOWING^ EXACTLY 

the same, it must then without all doubt have pro- 
duced the same accidents, and have sown the same 
seeds of diversity of opinion, in the spirits of its 
clergy. Those opinions and observations, which now 
give offence to the Cassandrists, would then also have 
offended some persons or other, that were endued with 
the like moderation. For we are not to conceive but 
that those first ages of Christianity brought forth 
spirits that were as much, and more refined and deli- 
cate than ours. 

But that we may insist upon this particular no 
longer, it is sufficient for me, that I have thus clearly 
made it appear, that in the ancient Church the whole 
clergy of a city, or of a nation, much less of the whole 
world, had not necessarily one and the same sense 
and opinion on points of religion. So that it will fol- 
low from hence, that we cannot know with certainty, 
whether those opinions with which we meet in the 
Fathers, were received or not by all and each of the 
pastors of the Church at that time. All that you can 
gather thence is but this at the most ; that they them- 
selves, and some others perhaps of the most eminent 
amongst them (if you please,) maintained such or 
such opinions: in like manner, as that which Bellar- 
mine and others have written on the Sacrament of the 
Eucharist, will inform posterity, that these men, and 
many others of our time, held these opinions in the 
Church of Rome. But as those who shall conclude, 
from the books of these authors, that there is at this 
day no other opinion maintained among the clergy 
themselves of the Church of Rome, on this particular, 
would very much mislead themselves; so is it much 
to be feared that we in like manner deceive ourselves, 
when, from what we find in two or three of the 
Fathers, we conclude that there w r as at that time no 
other opinion held in the Christian Church on those 
points whereof they treat, except that which they 
have delivered. It is a very hazardous business to 



THE BELIEF OF THE ANCTENT CHURCH. 201 

take eight or ton men, however holy and learned they 
may have been, as sureties for all doctors of the 
Church universal that lived in their age. This is too 
little security for so great a sum. 

Now, there are two things which may be objected 
against that which we have before delivered. The 
first is, that if there had been in antiquity any other 
opinions on the points now in debate, which had been 
different from those we now meet with in the books, 
either of all the Fathers, or at least of some of them, 
the} r would have mentioned and refuted them. But 
we have already heretofore answered this objection, 
by saying that the Fathers forbare to speak anything 
of this diversity of opinion, partly out of prudence, 
lest they might provoke the authors of the said opin- 
ions, which were contrary to their own, and so increase 
the difference, instead of appeasing it; and partly also 
out of charity; mildly bearing with that which they 
accounted not dangerous. 

I only speak here of those differences in opinions 
which they knew of: for there might be a great num- 
ber of others of which they knew not. Who can 
oblige you to believe that a monk, for example, that 
had retired into a corner, and as it were forsaken the 
world, professing only to instruct a small number of 
men and women in the rules of devotion, must needs 
Lave known what the opinions in points of religion 
of all the prelates of his age were? Who will pass 
bis word to us in his behalf, that he does not some- 
times reprove that in some men, which yet the Church 
allowed in an infinite number of others? Who will 
wur: nt ufl that all Christendom in his time embraced 
all his opinions, and had no other of their own? 

J* isevine, answering an objection relative to the 
works of Dionysius the Areopagite, which Jerome 
ha- made no mention of, says, that it is no great 
Wonder that a man who lay hid in a corner of the 
^vorld should not have seen this book, which the 
18 



202 IMPOSSIBILITY OF KNOWING EXACTLY 

Arians endeavoured to suppress.* May not a man 
with as much reason say, that it is no great wonder if 
Jerome or Epiphanius, or any other authors who were 
all of them engaged with their particular charges and 
employments, did not know of some opinions of the 
prelates of their age; or that either their modesty, or 
their charity, or the little eloquence and repute they 
had, might have made them conceal the same? 

The other objection is drawn from the fact that 
these doctors of the ancient Church, who held some 
opinions different from those which we read at this 
day in the Fathers, did not publish them at all. But 
I answer first of all, that every man is not able to do 
so. In the next place, those who were able were not 
always willing. Various other considerations may 
perhaps also have hindered them from so doing; and 
if they are wise and pious men, they are never moved 
till the necessity arises. And hence it is, that often- 
times those opinions which have less truth in them do 
yet prevail; because prudence, which maintains the 
true opinion, is mild and patient; whereas rashness, 
which defends the false, is of a froward, eager, and 
ambitious nature. 

Now let us but imagine how many of the evidences 
of this diversity of opinion may have been lost by the 
various ways before represented, having been de- 
voured by time, or suppressed by malicious men, for 
fear they should let the world see the traces of the 
truth which they would have concealed. But that I 
may not be thought to adduce bare conjectures with- 
out any proof, I shall produce some examples for the 
confirming and elucidating my assertions. 

Epiphanius maintains against Aerius,f whom he 
ranks among the Heresiarchs, that a bishop, accord- 
ing to the Apostle Paul, and the original institution 
of the office itself, is more than a priest: and this he 

* Possevine in Appar. f Epiph. in Panar. Hser. 75. 



THE BELIEF OF THE ANCIENT CHURCH. 203 

proves in many words, answering all the objections 
that are made to the contrary. If you only read the 
passage, I am confident that when you have done, 
you would not hesitate to swear that what he has 
there delivered, was the general opinion of all the 
doctors of the Church; it being very unlikely that so 
great and so renowned a prelate w T ould so positively 
have denied the opinion which he disputed against, 
if any one of his own familiar friends had also main- 
tained the same. Yet for all this, Jerome, who was 
one of the principal lights of our western Church, and 
who lived at the same time with Epiphanius, who was 
his intimate friend, and a great admirer of his piety, 
says expressly, "that among the ancients, bishops and 
priests were the same; the one being a name of dig- 
nity, and the other of age."* That it may not be 
thought that this fell from him in discourse only, he 
there undertakes to prove the same at large, alleging 
several passages of Scripture on this subject ;f and he 
also repeats the same thing, in two or three several 
places of his work; whereby it evidently appears that 
even positions quite contradictory to the opinions 
which have been delivered and maintained by some 
of the Fathers, and proposed in whatever terms, have 
notwithstanding been sometimes either maintained, 
or at least tolerated, by some others of no less au- 
thority. 

Jerome himself has severely criticised Ruffinus, and 
condemned many of his opinions as most pernicious 
and deadly; yet we do not anywhere find that he was 
ever accounted a heretic by the rest of the Fathers. 
But we shall have occasion hereafter to consider more 

* Qoanquara apud reterea (idem : et presbyteri fuerint: 

illirl Qomen <li.L r nir;it : ,- est, hoc ■ H *n. Ep. B3. <td 

- perspicue doceat eosdem e 
]■ i.— Id. >/>. 86. ad Evagr. torn. ~. 

f i i mi. 5. j». 512. Bt Com. iu Tit. torn. G. 



204 IMPOSSIBILITY OF KNOWING EXACTLY 

at large similar examples; and shall only at present 
observe, that if those books of Jerome, which Ave men- 
tioned a little before, should have chanced to be lost, 
every man would then assuredly have concluded from 
Epiphanius, that no doctor of the ancient Church ever 
held, that a bishop and a priest were one and the 
same thing in their institution. 

Who now, after all this, will assure us, that among 
so many other opinions as have been rejected here and 
there by the Fathers, and that too in as plain terms 
as those of Epiphanius, none of them have ever been 
defended by some of the learned of those times? Or, 
is it not possible, that they may have held them, 
though they did not write in defence of the same? 
Or may they not perhaps have written also in defence 
of them, and their books have been since lost ? How 
small is the number of those in the Church, who had 
the ability, or at least the will, to write ! And how 
much smaller is the number of those whose writings 
have been able to secure themselves against either 
the injury of time or the malice of men ! 

It is objected against the Protestants, as we have 
observed before, that Jerome commends and main- 
tains the adoration of relics: but yet he himself tes- 
tifies, that there were some bishops, who defended 
Vigilantius, who held the contrary opinion; whom he, 
according to his ordinary rhetoric, calls " accomplices 
in his wickedness."* 

Who knows now what these bishops were, and 
whether they deserved any such usage at Jerome's 
hands or no? For the expressions which he uses 
against them, and against their opinions, are so full 
of gall and enmity, that they utterly take aw^ay all 
credit from his testimony. But we have insisted 
long enough upon this particular, and shall therefore 
forbear to instance any further in others. 

* Proh! nefas, episcopos sui sceleris dicitur habere consortes. — 
Hier. in Vigil, 2, p. 159. 



THE BELIEF OF TUE ANCIENT CHURCH. 205 

As it is therefore impossible to discover exactly, out 
of the Fathers, what have been the sense and judg- 
ment of the ancient Church, — whether taken univer- 
sally or particularly, or whether the Church is taken 
for the whole body of believers, or for the prelates 
and inferior clergy only, — I shall here conclude as 
heretofore, that the writings of the ancients are 
altogether insufficient for proving the truth of any 
of those points which are at this day controverted 
amongst us. 



18* 



BOOK THE SECOND. 



THE FATHERS ARE NOT OF SUFFICIENT AUTHORITY FOR DECIDING 
CONTROVERSIES IN RELIGION. 



CHAPTER I. 



Reason I.— That the Testimonies given by the Fathers, on the 
doctrines of the Church, are not always true and certain. 

We have before shown how difficult it is to discover 
what the sense of the Fathers has been, as respects 
the points at this day controverted in religion ; owing 
to the small number of books of the Fathers of the 
first centuries that have come down to us; and those 
which we have, moreover, treating of things of a very 
different nature from our present disputes; and of 
which besides we cannot be very well assured, by 
reason of the many forgeries and monstrous corrup- 
tions, which they have for so long a time been subject 
to; also by reason of the obscurity and ambiguity in 
their expressions ; and their often representing to us 
the opinions rather of others than of their authors : 
besides those imperfections which are found in them; 
as for instance their not informing us in what degree 
of faith we are to hold each particular point of doc- 
trine ; and their leaving us in doubt, whether what 
they teach be the judgment of the Church, or their 
own private opinion; and whether, if it be the judg- 



TESTIMONIES OF THE FATHERS UNCERTAIN. 207 

ment of the Church, it be of the Church universal, or 
pf some particular Church only. 

Now the least of these objections is sufficient to 
render their testimony invalid; and that this testi- 
mony may be of force, it is necessary that it be 
clearly and evidently free from all these defects; for- 
asmuch as the question is here touching the Christian 
faith, which ought to be grounded on nothing but 
what is sure and certain. Whosoever therefore would 
make use of any passage out of a Father, he is bound 
first to make it appear that the author, out of whom 
he cites the said passage, lived and wrote in the first 
ages of Christianity; and moreover, that the said per- 
son is well known to be the author of the book out of 
which the passage is quoted: and also that the pas- 
sage cited is no way corrupted nor altered: and like- 
wise, that the sense which he gives of it, is the true 
genuine sense of the passage; and that it was the 
opinion of the author, when he had arrived at ripe- 
ness of judgment, and which he changed not, nor re- 
tracted afterwards. He must also make it appear in 
what degree he held it; and whether he maintained it 
as his own private opinion only, or as the opinion of 
the Church: and lastly, whether it was the opinion of 
the Church universal, or of some particular Church 
only : which inquiry is of such vast and almost infinite 
labour, that it makes me very much doubt whether or 
not we can be ever able to attain a full and certain 
assurance what the positive sense of the ancients has 
been, on the whole body of controversies now debated 
in this age. Hence therefore our principal question 
seems to be decided; whether adducing the Fathers 
be a sufficient and proper means for demonstrating 
the truth of all those articles which arc at this day 
maintained by the Church of Rome, and rejected by 
the Protestants. For who does not now see that this 
kind of proof has as much or more difficulty in it than 
the question itself? and that such testimonies are as 



208 THE TESTIMONIES OF THE FATHERS 

obscure as the controverted opinions themselves? 
Notwithstanding, that we may not be thought too 
hasty, and upon too light grounds to reject this way 
of proceeding, we will pass by all the obscurity that 
is found, as regards the opinions of the ancients; and 
supposing it to be no difficult matter to discover what 
was the opinion and sense of the Fathers on the afore- 
said points, we will now, in this Second Book, con- 
sider whether or not their authority be such, as that 
we ought or may, without further examination, be- 
lieve, on their authority, what we know to a certainty 
was their belief, and hold it in the same degree as 
they did. 

There are two sorts of passages to be observed in 
the writings of the Fathers: in the one you have them 
speaking only as witnesses, and testifying what the 
belief of the Church was in their time: in the other, 
they propose to you, like doctors, their own private 
opinions. Now there is a world of difference betwixt 
these two things : for in a witness, there is required 
only faithfulness and truth; but in a doctor, learning 
and knowledge. The one persuades us by the opinion 
w T e have of his veracity ; the other, by the strength of 
his arguments. The Fathers are witnesses only when 
they barely tell us that the Church in their times 
held such or such opinions: and they are doctors, 
when, mounting as it were the dictatorial chair, they 
propose to us their own opinions; making them good 
either by Scripture or by reason. 

Now as it concerns the testimonies they give on the 
faith held by the Church in their time, I know not 
whether we ought to receive all they bring for certain 
truths or not : but of this I am sure, that though they 
should deserve to be received by us for such, yet 
nevertheless would they answer little purpose as to 
the business now in hand. The reason which induces 
me to doubt of the former of these, is, because I ob- 
serve that those very men, who are the greatest ad- 



NOT ALWAYS TRUE AND CERTAIN. 209 

mirers of the Fathers, do yet confess, that although 
they err very little, or not at all, in matter of right, 
yet nevertheless they often err, and have their fail- 
ings, in matter of fact: because right is a universal 
thing, which is every way uniform, and all of one 
kind; whereas matter of fact is a thing which is mixed, 
and as it were enchased with divers particular circum- 
stances, which may very easily escape the knowledge 
of, or at least be not so rightly understood by, the 
most clear and penetrating minds. Now the condi- 
tion of the Church's belief in every particular age, is 
matter of fact and not of right; a point of history, 
and not an article of faith: so that it follows hence, 
that possibly the Fathers may have erred in giving us 
an account hereof; and that therefore their testimonies 
in such cases ought not to be received by us as infal- 
libly true; neither yet may we be thought hereby to 
accuse the Fathers of falsehood. For how often do 
the most honest persons innocently testify to such 
things as they thought they had seen, which it after- 
wards appears that they saw not at all! for goodness 
renders not men infallible. The Fathers therefore 
being but men, might both be deceived themselves in 
such things, and might consequently also deceive 
those who have confided in them, though innocently, 
and without any design of doing so. But besides all 
this, it is very evident that they have not been wholly 
free from passion either: and there is no man but 
knows that passion very often disguises things, and 
makes them appear, even to the most honest men, 
much otherwise than they are; insomuch that some- 
times they are affectionately carried away with one 
opinion, and do as much abhor another. This secret 
passion might easily make them believe that the 
Church held that opinion with which they themselves 
were most captivated; and that it rejected that which 
they themselves disliked, especially if there were but 
the least appearance or shadow of reason to incline 



210 THE TESTIMONIES OF THE FATHERS 

them Co this belief. For men are very easily per- 
suaded to believe what they desire. 

I conceive we may here adduce the testimony of 
Jerome, where he affirms, "that the Churches of 
Christ held that the souls of men were immediately 
created by God, at the instant of their entrance into 
the body/'* And yet, that doubt, which Augustine 
was in, in this particular, and his evidently inclining 
to the contrary opinion ; which was, that the soul 
was propagated together with the body, and de- 
scended from the father to the son ; manifestly proves 
that the Church had not at that time embraced or 
determined on the former of these opinions; it being 
utterly improbable, that so modest a man as Augus- 
tine would have rejected the general opinion of the 
Church, and have taken up a particular fancy of his 
own. But the feeling wherewith Jerome was at that 
time carried away against Ruffinus, a great part of 
the learned men of his time being also of the same 
opinion, easily brought him to a belief that it was the 
common judgment and opinion of the whole Christian 
Church. f From the same root also sprang that error 
of John, bishop of Thessalonica, (if at least it be an 
error) who affirmed, "that the opinion of the Church 
was, that angels are not wholly incorporeal and invisi- 
ble ; but that they have bodies, though of a very rare 
and thin substance; not much unlike those of the fire 
or the air." Noepoo^ fiev auzooq -fj xadoXcxrj exxbjaca 
ftvcooxec, ou ftyv dacoptazooQ Ttavzrj xcu dopazouc;, fenzo- 
ocDfiazous de xae depwdecz, "'] nopcodetQ.\ For those who 

* Omne deinceps humanum genus quibus animarum censetur 
exordiis? utrum ex traduce, juxta bruta animalia, &c; anrationa- 
biles creaturge desiderio corporum, &c; an certd, quod ecclesias- 
ticum est, quotidie Deus fabricetur animas: cujus velle fecisse 
est, et conditor esse non cessat? — liter, ep. 61, de Error. Jo. Hier. 

f Miraris si contra te fratrum scandala concitentur; cum id 
nescire te jures, quod Christi Ecclesise se scire fatentur ? — Id. Apol. 
2, contra Ruff. 

% Joan. Thessal. in Concil. 7, Act. 5. 



NOT ALWAYS TRUE AND CERTAIN. 211 

published the general councils at Rome conceive this 
to have been his own private opinion only.* If this 
be so (and we need not at present examine the truth 
of the assertion,) you then plainly see, that the affec- 
tion this author bore to his own opinion carried him 
so far away, as to make him father upon the whole 
Church what was indeed but his own particular opi- 
nion ; though otherwise he was a man who was highly 
esteemed by the seventh council ;f which not only 
cites him among the Fathers, but honours him also 
with the title of a Father. 

Epiphanius must also be excused in the same man- 
ner, where he assures us that the Church held by 
apostolical tradition the custom which it had of meet- 
ing together thrice a week, for the celebration of the 
holy Eucharist; but which Petavius makes appear not 
to have been of apostolical institution. J 

The mistakes of the venerable Bede, noted and 
censured elsewhere by Petavius, § are of the same 
nature also: "the belief of the Church, if I mistake 
not, (says he,) is, that our Saviour Christ lived in the 
flesh thirty-three years, or thereabouts, till the time 
of the passion:" and he says moreover, "that the 
Church of Rome testifies that this is its belief, by the 
marks which they yearly set upon their tapers on 
Good Friday ; whereon they always inscribe a number 
of years, which is less by thirty-three than the com- 
mon «ra of the Christians." He likewise says, in the 
same place, "that it is not lawful for any Catholic to 
doubt whether Jesus Christ suffered on the cross the 
15th day of the moon, or not."|| 

* Loquitur ex propria sententia. — Ibid, in N<trf/. 

icil. 7, .\<-t. "). I Petav. in Epiphan. pag. 86 1. 

J iviiv. in Epiphan. p. 118. I 1:;. 1 16. 

el enim, oisi fallor, ecclesiee fides, Dominum in carne panlo 

pin- minus qnam xxxiii annis, osque ;t'l bum tempore passionie 

V .- Sancta -i quidem Romans <-t apoatolioa ecclesia 

tenere, el ipgig teetatnr Lndionlis, qua Buia in e« 

annuutim iiiscribore bolct, ubi tempos Dummies gassionifi in me- 



212 THE TESTIMONIES OF THE FATHERS 

Petavius has proved at large, that both these opin- 
ions which Bede delivers as the Church's belief, are 
nothing less than what he would have them.* 

The curious reader may observe many similar traits 
in the writings of the Fathers : but those already 
noticed, in my judgment, sufficiently justify the doubt 
which I have offered ; that we ought not to receive, 
as certain truths, the testimony which the Fathers 
give, as regards the doctrine of the Church in their 
time. Nevertheless, that we may not seem to make 
a breach upon the honour and reputation of the 
Fathers, I say, that though we should grant, that all 
their depositions and testimonies in this particular 
were certainly and undoubtedly true; yet notwith- 
standing they would be of little use to us in our pre- 
sent purpose. For, in the first place, there are but 
very few passages wherein they testify plainly, and 
in direct terms, what the doctrine of the Church in 
their time was, as regards the points now controverted 
amongst us. This is the business of an historian 
rather than of a doctor of the Church; whose office 
is to teach, to prove, and to exhort the people com- 
mitted to his charge, and to correct their vices and 
errors ; telling them what they ought to do or believe, 
rather than troubling them with discourses of what is 
done or believed by others. Yet when they do give 
their testimony as to what were the doctrine and dis- 
cipline of the Church in their time, it ought to extend 
only to what was evidently such, and which moreover 
was apparent to themselves also. 

Now, as we have formerly proved, they could not 
possibly know the sense and opinions of every par- 

moriam populis reyocans, numerum annorum triginta semper et 
tribus annis minorem quam ab ejus incarnatione Dionysius ponat, 
annotat. (Id. ibid.) Nam quod Dominus xv. Luna, feria vi. cru- 
cem ascenderit, &c. nulli licet dubitare Catkolico. — Beda, lib. de 
Temp, rations, c. 45. 

* Petav. in. Epiphan. p. 113. 143. 



NOT ALWAYS TRUE AND CERTAIN. 213 

ticular Christian that lived in their time; nor yet of 
all the pastors and ministers who were set over them: 
but of some particular Christians only. As therefore 
it is confessed, even by those very men who have the 
Church in greatest esteem, that the belief of particular 
Churches is not infallible, we may very easily per- 
ceive that such testimonies of the Fathers as these can 
be of little avail ; seeing that they represent to us snch 
opinions as are not always certainly and undoubtedly 
true, and which consequently are so far from con- 
firming and proving ours, that they rather stand in 
need of being examined and proved themselves. But 
suppose that the Church of Rome did hold that the 
beliefs of particular Churches were infallible (which 
however it does not,) yet this would not at all mili- 
tate against the Protestants, as they are of a quite 
contrary opinion. 

Now it is taken for granted on all hands that proofs 
ought to be taken from such things as are confessed 
and acknowledged by your adversary, whom you en- 
deavour to convince; otherwise you will never be able 
to change him, or induce him to quit his former opin- 
ion. Seeing therefore that the testimonies of the 
Fathers, as to the state of the faith and ecclesiastical 
discipline of their times, are of this nature, it remains 
for us now to consider their other discourses, wherein 
they have delivered themselves, not as witnesses de- 
posing what they had seen, but as doctors instructing 
us in what they believed: and certainly, how T ever 
holy and able they were, it cannot be denied but that 
they were still men ; and consequently were subject 
to error, especially in points of fciith, so much tran- 
scending human apprehension. The Spirit of God 
alone was able to direct their understandings and 
their pens in the truth, and to withhold them from 
falling into any error: in like manner as it directed 
the holy prophets and apostles, while they wrote the 
books of the Old and New Testament. Now we can- 
19 



214 THE TESTIMONIES OF THE ?ATHERS 

not be any way assured that the Spirit of God was 
present always with them, to enlighten their under- 
standings, and to make them see the truth of all those 
things of which they wrote. They pretend not to 
this themselves, nor yet does any one that I know 
attribute to them this assistance, unless it be perhaps 
the author of the " Gloss upon the Decrees/' who is 
of opinion that we ought to stand to all that the 
Fathers have written, even to the least tittle:* but 
he is very justly called to account for this, by Al- 
phonsus a Castro, f and Melchior Canus,J two Spanish 
doctors. 

Since, therefore, we are not bound to believe any 
thing but what is true; it is most evident that we 
neither may nor ought to believe the opinions of the 
Fathers, till such times as they appear to us to have 
been certainly true. Now we cannot be certainly 
assured of this by their single authority; seeing that 
they were but men, who were not always inspired by 
the Holy Spirit from above: and therefore it is neces- 
sary that we make use of some other guides in this 
our inquiry; namely, either of the Holy Scriptures, 
or of reason, or tradition, or the doctrine of the pre- 
sent Church, or of some other means, such as they 
themselves have made use of. It hence follows that 
their bare assertions are no sufficient ground for us to 
build any of our opinions on ; as they only serve to 
incline us beforehand to the belief of the same; the 
great opinion which we have of them causing us to 
conclude that they would never have embraced such 
an opinion, except it had been true. This manner of 
argumentation, however, is at the best but probable, 
so long as the persons we have here to do with are 
only men and no more ; and in this particular case, 

* Hodie jubentur omnia teneri, usque ad ultimum iota. — Gloss, 
in Deer. D. 9. c. 3. 

f Alphons. a Castr. I. 1. advers. Hser. c. 7. 
J Melch. Cauus. 1. 7, loc. Theol. c. 3. Num. 4. 



NOT ALWAYS TRUE AND CERTAIN. 215 

where the question is on points of faith, it is by no 
means to be allowed ; since faith is to be grounded, 
not upon probabilities, but upon necessary truths. 
The Fathers are like other great masters in this 
point, and their opinions are more or less valid, in 
proportion to the reason and authority on which they 
are grounded: they have, however, this advantage, 
that their very names beget in us a readiness and in- 
clination to receive whatever emanates from them; 
while we think it very improbable that such excellent 
men as they were, should ever believe anything that 
was false. 

Thus, in human sciences, the saying of an Aristotle 
is of far different value from that of any other philo- 
sopher of less account; because all men are before- 
hand possessed with an opinion, that this great philo- 
sopher would not maintain anything that was not 
consonant to reason. But this is prejudice only; for, 
if, upon better examination, it should be found to be 
otherwise, his bare authority would then no longer 
prevail with us; what he himself had once wisely 
said, would then here take place — "that it is a sacred 
thing always to prefer the truth before friendship;" 
'Apupotv ouzor^ ipekoePj oglov Tzpori/iav zr^v aXrjdecav.* 

Let the Fathers, therefore, if you please, be the 
Aristotles in Christian philosophy, and let us have a 
reverent esteem of them and their writings as they 
deserve; and not be too rash in concluding that per- 
sons so eminent for learning and sanctity should main- 
tain any erroneous or vain opinions, especially in a 
matter of so great importance: yet notwithstanding 
are w r e bound to remember, that they were but men, 
and that their memory, understanding, or judgment, 
might sometimes fail them, and therefore, consequent- 
ly, that we are to examine their writings by those 
principles from whence they drew their conclusions, 

* Arist. in Ethic. 1. 1, c. G. 



216 THE FATHERS TESTIFY AGAINST 

and not to rest satisfied with their bare assertions, 
until we have discovered them to be true. 

If I were to speak of any other persons than of the 
Fathers, I should not add anything more to what has 
been now said; sufficient having been, in my judg- 
ment, already adduced, to prove that they are not of 
themselves of sufficient authority to oblige us neces- 
sarily to follow their opinions. But seeing that the 
question is relative to those great names, who are so 
highly honoured in the Church; in order that no man 
may accuse us of endeavouring to rob them of any 
of the respect which is due to them, I conceive it 
necessary to examine this matter a little more rigidly, 
and to make it appear, on due consideration, that they 
are of no more authority, either in themselves or in 
regard to us, than we have already attributed to them. 



CHAPTER II. 

Reason II. — The Fathers testify themselves that they are not to 
be believed absolutely, and upon their own bare assertion, in 
•what they declare in matters of religion. 

There are none so fit to inform us what the authority 
of the writings of the ancients is, as the ancients 
themselves, who in all reason must necessarily know 
this better than we. Let us therefore now hear what 
they testify in this particular ; and if we do indeed 
hold them in such high esteem, as we profess, let us 
allow of their judgment in this particular, attributing 
neither more nor less to the ancients, than they them- 
selves require at our hands. 

Augustine, who was the principal light of the Latin 
Church, having entered into a contest with Jerome, 
on the interpretation before-mentioned, of the second 



TIIEMSELVES IN MATTERS OF RELIGION. 217 

clinptcr of the Epistle of Paul to the Galatians ; and 
finding himself hardly pressed by the authority of six 
or seven Greek writers, which are urged against him 
by the other; to extricate himself, states in what ac- 
count he held that kind of writers: — "I confess/' says 
he, u to thy charity, that I have learned to pay to those 
books of Scripture alone w r hich are now called cano- 
nical, such reverence and honour, as to believe stead- 
fastly that none of their authors ever committed any 
error in writing them. And if by chance I there 
meet with anything, which seems to contradict the 
truth, I immediately think that either my copy is im- 
perfect, and not so correct as it should be ; or else, 
that the interpreter did not so well understand the 
words of the original: or lastly, that I myself have 
not so rightly understood him. But as for all other 
writers, however eminent they are, either for sanctity 
or learning, I read them in such manner as not in- 
stantly to conclude that whatever I there find is true, 
because they have said it ; but rather, because they 
convince me, either out of the said canonical books of 
Scripture, or else by some probable reason, that w T hat 
they say is true. Neither do I think, brother, that 
thou thyself art of any other opinion: that is to say, 
I do not believe that thou expectest that we should 
read thy books, as we do those of the Prophets or 
Apostles; of the truth of whose writings, as being ex- 
empt from all error, we may not in anywise doubt."* 

* Ego enim fateor caritati turc solis eis Scripturarum libris, qui 
jam oanonici appellantur, didici hunc timorem, honoremque de- 
force, at nullum eoram auctorem scribendo aliquid errasse firmis- 
siinc eredam. Ac bj aliquid in eia offendero IHteris, quod rideatur 
contfarium reritati, nihil aliud quam meudoeum esse oodicem, ?el 
pretem bod assequutum esse quod dictum est, vel me minima 
into 1 gam. Alios autem Its Lego, ut quantalibet 

Mi' 1 praspolleant, non ideo verum putem, quia 
ipsi • • quia mihi, vel per illoe authores oanonioos, 

yel probabili ratione, quod a ?ero qou abhorreat, persuaders po- 
ke, mi frater, seutire aliquid aliter existimo: proj 
Knquam, non te arbitror Bic 1< ^ r i librofl tuos veils tanquam Prophe- 

19 



218 THE FATHERS TESTIFY AGAINST 

Having afterwards opposed some other similar au- 
thorities against those alleged by Jerome, he adds, 
" that he had done so, notwithstanding that, to say 
the truth, he accounted the canonical Scriptures only 
to be the books to which (as he said before) he owed 
that ingenuous duty, as to be fully persuaded that the 
authors of them never erred, or deceived the reader 
in anything/'* 

This holy man accounted this advice to be of such 
great importance, that he thought fit to repeat it again 
in another place ; and I must entreat my reader to 
give me leave to extract here the whole passage at 
length. 

"As for this kind of books, ,, (says he, speaking of 
those which we write, not with the authority of com- 
manding, but only from the design of exercising our- 
selves to benefit others,) "we are so to read them, as 
not bound necessarily to believe them, but having the 
liberty left us of judging of what we read. Yet not- 
withstanding, that we may not quite exclude these 
books, and deprive posterity of the most profitable 
labour of exercising their language and style, in the 
handling and treating of difficult questions, we make 
a distinction between these books of later writers, and 
the excellency of the canonical authority of the Old 
and New Testament; which having been confirmed 
in the Apostles' time, has since, by the bishops who 
succeeded them, and the churches which have been 
propagated throughout the world, been placed as it 
were upon a high throne, to which every faithful and 
godly understanding must be subject. And if we 
chance here to meet with anything that troubles us, 

tarum vel Apostolorum, de quorum scriptis, quod omni errore ca- 
reant, dubitare nefarium est. — August, ep. ad Hier. quce est 19. t. 2. 
fol. 14. ed. Paris. 1579, et inter Hier. Op. 97. t. 2. p. 551. 

* Quanquam, sicut paulo ante dixi, tantummodo Scripturis ca- 
nonicis hanc ingenuam debeam servitutem, qua eas solas ita sequar, 
ut conscriptores earum nihil in eis omnino errasse, nihil fallaciter 
posuisse non dubitem. — Id. ibid. 



THEMSELVES IN MATTERS OF RELIGION. 210 

and seems absurd, we must not say that the author of 
the book was ignorant of the truth, but rather that 
either our copy is false, or the interpreter is mistaken 
in the sense of the place, or else that we do not under- 
stand him aright. 

"As for the writings of those other authors who 
have come after them, the number whereof is almost 
infinite, though coming very far short of this most 
sacred excellency of the canonical Scriptures, a man 
may sometimes find in them the very same truth, 
though not of equal authority. Therefore if by 
chance we here meet with such things as seem con- 
trary to the truth, only, perhaps, because we do not 
understand them, we have our liberty, either in read- 
ing or hearing the same, to approve of what we like, 
and to reject that which we conceive not to be right. 
So that unless all such passages be made good, either 
by some certain reason, or else by the canonical au- 
thority of the Scriptures ; and it be made to appear, 
that what is asserted either really is, or else at least 
might have been, he that shall reject or not assent to 
the same, ought not in any wise to be reprehended."* 

* Quod ironus literarum, non cum credendi necessitate, sed cum 

jndicandi iibertate legendum est. Cui tamen ne intercludcretur 

locus, et adimeretur posteris ad difficiles qurestiones tractandas 

atque versandas, linguae ac stvli saluberrimus labor, distincta est 

a posteriornm libris excellentia canonical auctoritatis Veteris et 

Novi Testament!; qua Apostolorum confirmata temporibus, per 

episcoporum, et propagationes ecclesiarum, tanquam 

in sede qnadam sublimiter constitute est, cui serviat omnia fidelis 

v\ pin- intellectns. [bi Bi quid vHut absurdum moverit, non licet 

dicere, auctor hujua libri non tennit reritatem : sed, ant codex men- 

dosna est, ant Lnterprea erravit, ant tu non intelligis. In opnscnlis 

anteni posteriornm, quae libria Lnnumerabilibus continentur, Bed 

nullo modoilli [ma canonicarnm Scriptnrarnm excellentiaa 

oantur, etiam in quibnscnmqne eomm Lnvenitur eadem Veritas, 

: Lmpar anctoritas. Itaque in eia, bi qna Porte prop- 

: dissonare pntantnr a vero, quia qod nt dicta stint, intelligun- 

tur. tamen iibernm ibi babel lector anditorve judicium qno vel 

approbet quod placuerit, ?el Lmprobet qnod offenderit : el Ldeo 

euncl , nisi vel certa ratione, vol ex ilia canonica ancto- 



220 THE FATHERS TESTIFY AGAINST 

Thus far have we Augustine testifying on our side, 
(as well here, as in many other places, which would 
be too long to be inserted here,)* that those opinions 
which we find delivered by the Fathers in their wri- 
tings, are grounded not upon their bare authority but 
upon their reasons; and that they bind not our belief 
otherwise than so far as they are consonant to Scrip- 
ture or reason ; and that they ought to be examined 
by both, as proceeding from persons that are not in- 
fallible. 

Hence it appears, that the course which is at this 
day pursued is not sufficient for the demonstration of 
the truth. For suppose we are in doubt what is the 
sense and meaning of a certain passage in Scripture. 
You will immediately have the judgment of a Father 
brought upon the said passage, quite contrary to the 
rule which Augustine gives us, who would have us 
examine the Fathers by the Scriptures, and not the 
Scriptures by the Fathers. Certainly, according to 
the judgment of this Father, the Protestant, though a 
passage is clear and express as any of the canons of 
the council of Trent, should be brought against him, 
out of any of the Fathers, ought not to be blamed, 
if he should answer, that he cannot by any means 
assent to it unless the truth of it be first proved, 
either by some certain reason, or else by the autho- 
rity of the canonical Scriptures; and that then, and 
not till then, would he be ready to assent to it. 

Thus, according to this account, we are to allege, 
not the names of, but the reasons given in, books; to 

ritate defendantur, ut demonstretur sive omnino ita esse, sive fieri 
potuisse, quod vel disputatur ibi, vel narratum est, si cui displi- 
cuerit, aut credere noluerit, non reprehenditur. — August. Ep. ad 
Hier. I. 11 contr. Faust, c. 5. 

* August, ep. ad Hier. t. 2. Epist. 48, ep. Ill, t. 3, 1. 1, 3, de 
Trinit. c. 2, 1. 3, prsefat. 1. 5, c. 1. t. 7, 1. 2, contr. Crescon. Gram. 
c. 31, et c. 32, 1. 2, de Bapt. contr. Don. c. 3, 1. 3, de Peccat. mer. 
et rem. c. 7, c. 1, de Nat. et grat. c. 61, 1. 4, contr. du. ep. Pelag. 
c. 8, 1. 1, contr. Julian, c. 2, 1. de bon. persever. c. 21. 



THEMSELVES IN MATTERS OF RELIGION. 221 

take notice, not of the quality of their authors, but of 
the solidity of their proofs; to consider what it is they 
give us, and not the face or hand of him that gives 
it us; and, in a word, to reduce the dispute from per- 
sons to things. 

Jerome also seems to commend to us this method of 
proceeding, where, in the preface to his second Com- 
mentary upon Hosea, he has these words: "Then 
(that is, after the authors of books are once departed 
this life) we judge of their worth and parts only, not 
considering at all the dignity of their name: and the 
reader has regard only to what he reads, and not to 
the author of the work. So that whether he were a 
bishop or a layman, a general and a lord, or a com- 
mon soldier and a servant; whether he lie in purple 
and silk, or in the vilest and coarsest rags, he shall be 
judged, not according to his degree of honour, but ac- 
cording to the merit and worth of his works."* Now 
he here speaks either of matter of right or of fact; 
and his meaning is, that either we ought to take this 
course in our judgments, or else it is a plain affirma- 
tion, that it is the practice of the world so to do. If 
his words are to be taken in the first sense, he then 
clearly takes away all authority from the bare names 
of writers, and so would have us to consider the 
quality only, and weight of their writings; that is to 
say, their reasons, and the force of the arguments 
they use. If we understand him in the second sense, 
he seems not to speak the truth; it being evident, that 
the ordinary course of the world is, to be more led by 
the titles and names of books, than by the matter 
therein contained. Suppose, however, that this was 

* Tunc sine nominum dignitate, sola judicantur ingenia; ncc 
oonsiderat, qui Lecturus est, eujus, Bed quale sil quod Leoturus est, 
-it laicus, imperator et dominus, miles et 
Berrus, aul in purpura et Berico, aut vilissimo panne jaceat, non 
li >norum diversitate, Bed operum merito judicabitur. — Hier, Com. 
2, in Oseam } Prcefat. 



222 THE FATHERS TESTIFY AGAINST 

Jerome's meaning; we may notwithstanding very 
safely believe, that he approves of the said course; 
forasmuch as having this occasion of speaking of it, 
he does not at all reprehend it. If therefore, reader, 
thou hast any wish to rely on his judgment, lay aside 
the names of Augustine and of Jerome, of Chrysostom 
and of Cyril; and forget for this once the rochet of 
the first, and the chair of the second, together with 
the patriarchal robe of the two last: and observe what 
they say, and not what they were ; the ground and 
reason of their opinions, and not the dignity of their 
persons. 

But that which excites my wonder is, that some of 
those who have been the most conversant in antiquity 
should trouble themselves with filling their books with 
declamatory expressions in praise of the authors they 
produce,* not forbearing to recount the nobleness of 
their extraction, the choiceness of their education, the 
splendour of their talents, the eminency of their see, 
and the greatness of their state. This manner of 
writing may perhaps suit well enough with the rules 
of rhetoric : but certain I am that it ill agrees with 
Jerome's advice, which we gave a little before. 

Let us now observe, out of some other more clear 
and express passages of his, what the judgment of 
this great Aristarchus, and censor of antiquity, was on 
this point. "I know (says he, writing to Theophilus, 
patriarch of Alexandria) that I place the Apostles in 
a distinct rank from all other writers : for as for them, 
they always speak truth: but as for those other, they 
err sometimes, like men, as they were."f 

What could he have said more expressly, in con- 
firmation of our assertion before laid down? " There 
are others, (says he,) both Greeks and Latins, who 

* Card. Perron, of the Eucharist. Aut. 20. 

f Scio me aliter habere Apostolos; aliter reliquos tractatores: 
ill os semper vera dicere; istos in quibusdam, ut homines, errare. — ■ 
Ilier. ep. 62. ad Theoph. Alex. 



THEMSELVES IN MATTERS OF RELIGION. 223 

Lave erred also in points of faith; whose names I 
need not here notice, lest it might seem to defend 
Origen by the errors of others rather than by his own 
worth."* 

How then can we confide in them, unless we ex- 
amine their opinions by their reasons? "I shall (says 
the same author) read Origen as I read others; be- 
cause I find he has erred in like manner as they have 
done."f 

In another place, speaking in general of ecclesi- 
astical writers; that is, of those whom we now call 
Fathers, and of the faults and errors that are found 
in their books, he says: "It may be that they have 
erred out of mere ignorance, or else that they wrote 
in some other sense than we understand them; or that 
their writings have been gradually corrupted, through 
the ignorance of the transcribers; or else before the 
appearing of that southern devil Arius, in Alexandria, 
they let some things fall from them innocently, and 
not so warily as they might have done ; and such as 
can hardly escape the cavils of wrangling spirits. "J 
Which passage of his, is a very excellent and remark- 
able one; and contains in it a brief yet clear and full 
justification of the greatest part of what we have hith- 
erto advanced in this discourse. 

Do but think therefore with how much circumspec- 
tion we are to read and to weigh these authors; and 
how careful we ought to be in examining in their 

* Erraverunt in fi<le alii, tarn Graeci quam Latini, quorum non 
neces.-e est proferre nomina, ne videamur enm, non sui merito Bed 
aliorum errore, defendere. — Hier. ep. 66. ad Pamm. et Oceanum. 

f Sic cum legam, ut Cffiteros; quia sic erravit, ut ceteri. — Id. 
ibid. 

j Fieri cnim potest, ut vel simpliciter erraverint, vel alio sensu 
Bcripserint, vel a librariia imperitia eorum paulatim scripts corrapta 
Bint: vr-1 certe anteqi iam in Alexandria quasi d&monium meridi- 
annm Arras nasceretor, innocenter qucedam, et minds cantd lo- 
qnuti -int. <-t quae oon possinl perrersoruni hominnm calnmniam 
declinare. — Hier. L 2. Apol. contra Huff. 



224 THE FATHERS TESTIFY AGAINST 

books, whether there be not either some fault com- 
mitted by the transcriber, or some obscurity in the 
expression, or some negligence in the conception, or 
lastly, some error in the proposition. 

In another place, having set down the opinions of 
several authors, respecting a certain question that had 
been proposed to him, that thus the reader might make 
choice of the best, Jerome gives this reason for so 
doing; "because (says he) we ought not, according to 
the example of Pythagoras's scholars, to have an eye 
to the prejudged opinion of the proposer, but rather 
the reason of the thing proposed:"* which words of 
his sufficiently confirm the sense we have formerly 
given of that passage of his in the Preface to his 
second commentary upon Hosea. He presently after- 
wards adds; "my purpose is to read the ancients; to 
prove all things, and to hold fast that which is good; 
and not to depart from the faith of the Catholic 
Church :"f according to the rule which he has com- 
mended to us, in his seventy-sixth epistle, where he 
advises us "to read Origen, Tertullian, Novatus, Ar- 
nobius, Apollinarius, and others of the ecclesiastical 
writers: but with this caution, that we should make 
choice of that which is good, but take heed of embra- 
cing that which is not so; according to the apostle, 
who bids us prove all things, but hold fast only that 
which is good. "J 

This is the course Jerome constantly takes, censur- 
ing with the greatest liberty the opinions and exposi- 

*Nec juxta Pythagorae discipulos, prejudicata doctoris opinio, 
sed doctringe ratio ponderanda est. — Hier. Ep. 15. 2. 

•j- Meum propositum est, antiquos legere, probare singula, reti- 
nere quae bona sunt, et a fide Ecclesiee Catholicse non recedere. — 
Id. Hid. 

% Ego Origenem propter eruditionem sic interdum legendum ar- 
bitror, quomodo Tertullianum, Novatum, Arnobium, Apollinarium, 
et nonnullos ecclesiasticos scriptores, Graecos pariter, et Latinos, 
ut bona eorum eligamus, vitemusque contraria; juxta apostolum 
dicentem, Omnia probate; quod bonum est tenete. — Id. Ep. 76. ad 
Tranquil 



THEMSELVES IN MATTERS OF RELIGION. 225 

tions of all those who went before him. He gives you 
freely his judgment of every one of them; affirming 
" that Cyprian scarcely touched the Scripture at all : 
that Victorinus was no£ able to express his own con- 
ceptions ; that Lactantius is not so happy in his en- 
deavours to prove our religion, as he is in overthrow- 
ing that of others; that Arnobius is very uneven and 
confused, and too luxuriant; that Hilary is too swell- 
ing, and encumbered with too long periods."* 

I shall not here lay before you what he says of 
Origen, Theodorus, Apollinaris, and of the Chiliasts; 
whose professed enemy he has declared himself, and 
whom he reproves very sharply upon all occasions, 
whenever they come in his way: and yet he con- 
fesses them all to have been men of very great parts; 
giving even Origen himself, who is the most dan- 
gerous writer of them all, this testimony, u that 
none but the ignorant can deny but that, next to the 
Apostles, he was one of the greatest masters of the 

Church."f 

But to speak only of those whose names have 
never been cried down in the Church, do but mark 
how he deals with Rheticius of Autun, an ecclesiasti- 
cal author: u There are (says he) an infinite number 
of things in his Commentaries, which in my judgment 
appear very mean and poor:"J and a little after; 
<k He seems to have had so ill an opinion of others, as 
to have a conceit that no man was able to judge of 

* Cyprianus de scripturis divinis nequaquam disseruit. Inclyto 
Victorinus martyrio coronatus, quod intelligit eloqui non potest. 
Lactantius atinam tarn nostra confirmare potuisset, quam facile 
aliens destruxit. Arnobius inequalis et nimius est, et absque 
opens bui partitione confusus. Sanctus Hilarius Gallicano cothur- 
no attollitur, et lpngis interdum periodis involvitur et & lectioue 
Liciorum fratrum procul est. — Hier. ep. 13. ad Paulin. 
fQuen >los ecclesiarum magistrum nemo 

mperitus aegat. — Hier. Prcefat. mlib. deNbm. Hebr. 
{ Tnnumerabilia sunt, quae id illius mini Commentariis sordere 
rant. — hi. ep. 183, ad Mired. 

20 



226 THE FATHERS TESTIFY AGAINST 

his faults. "* He takes the same liberty also, in re- 
jecting their opinions and expositions; and sometimes 
not without passing upon them some smart ridicule. 
He maintains the truth of the Hebrew text of the 
Old Testament, and finds an infinite number of faults 
in the translation of the Seventy, against almost the 
general consent, not only of the more ancient writers, 
but also of those too who lived in his own time, who all 
esteemed it as a divine production. He scoffs at the 
conceit of those men, who believed that the seventy 
interpreters, being placed separately in seventy dis- 
tinct cells, were inspired from above, in the transla- 
tion of the Bible. f "Let them keep, (says he, speak- 
ing of his own backbiters by way of scorn,) with all 
my heart, in the seventy cells of the Alexandrian 
Pharos, for fear they should lose the sails of their 
ships, and be forced to bewail the loss of their cord- 
age."* 

As for their expositions, he refuses them openly 
whenever they do not please him. Thus does he find 
fault with the exposition which is given by the greatest 
part of the Fathers, of the word Israel; which they 
will have to signify, a man seeing Grod: "notwith- 
standing that those who interpret it thus, are persons 
of very great authority and eloquence, and whose very 
shadow is sufficient to bear us down: yet (says he) 
we cannot but choose to follow the authority of the 
Scriptures; and of the angel, and of God, who gave 
this name of Israel, rather than the power of any se- 
cular eloquence, however great it may be."§ And in 

* Sed tarn male videtur existimasse de coeteris, ut nemo possit 
de ejus erroribus judicare. — liter, ep. 133, ad Marcel. 

f Nescio quis primus auctor septuaginta cellulas Alexandrine 
mendacio suo extruxerit. — liter. Prcefat. in Pentateuc. ad Desid. 

J Habitentque in septuaginta cellulis Alexandrini Phari, ne vela 
perdant de navibus, et funium detrimenta suspirent. — Id. Comm. 
10. in Ezech. 

\ Quanrvis igitur grandis auctoritatis sint, et eloquently, et ipso- 
rum umbra nos oppriraat, qui, Israel, virum, sive mentem viden- 



THEMSELVHS IN MATTERS OF RELIGION. 227 

his 14(Jth epistle, written to Pope Damasus, he says: 
4 *tli;u there are some who, not considering the text, 
conceive superstitiously rather than truly, that these 
words in the beginning of the 44th Psalm, * Eructavit 
cur meum verbum bonum, are spoken in the person of 
the Father."* Yet the greatest part of those who 
lived in the time of Arius, and a little after him, un- 
derstood these words in the same sense. 

It was likewise their opinion, almost without ex- 
ception, that Adam was buried upon Mount Calvary, 
and in the very same place where our Saviour Christ 
was crucified. Yet Jerome rejects this opinion :f and 
which is more, he makes himself merry with it, with- 
out any scruple at all. So likewise there were some 
among the aforenamed ancient Fathers, who out of a 
pious affection which they bore to Peter, maintained 
that he denied not God, but man, J and that the sense 
of the words of his denial, is, "I know him not to bo 
a man, for I know that he is God." "The intelligent 
reader (says the same Jerome) will easily perceive 
how idle and frivolous a thing this is, to accuse our 
Saviour as guilty of falsehood, by excusing his Apos- 
tle. For if Peter did not deny him, our Saviour must 
then necessarily have spoken falsely, when he said 
unto him, 'verily, I say unto thee,'" &c.§ He takes 
the same liberty also in reprehending Ambrose, who 
understands by G-oy, spoken of in the Prophet Eze- 
kiel, the nation of the Groths.\\ Neither do those other 

t'-m Deam, trans tulerunt; noa magia Scriptures, et angeli ct Dei, 
qui ipsum [srael vocavit, auctoritate ducimur, quam cujuslibct 
eloqu talaris. — Hier. Tradit. Hebr. 

* Licet quidam snperstitiose magis, quam vero, considerantea 
Lm psalmi, ex Patria persona arbitrentur neec intelligL — LI. 
tp. 1 I nas. 

:i loc. Hebr. Buseb. et Com. L in Matth. 

1 Hilar. In MattL Can. 31. 

{ Hoc quam frivolum ait, prudens lector intelligit. Sir defen- 
duni Apostolum, at Deum mendacii reum faciant, ^Vc. — Hier. Com. 

1. | 7 . _ . 

I i. C 'in. ad. in Eiech. in Prsefat L -, da ad. ad Grat. 



228 THE FATHERS TESTIFY AGAINST 

Fathers, escape his lash, who indulging too much in 
allegories, take Bosra in Isaiah for the flesh; whereas 
it signifies a fortress.* s 

I might here produce many similar passages, but 
these few may suffice: for who sees not by this time 
that these holy men considered not the Fathers, who 
went before them, as judges or arbitrators on the 
opinions of the Church; and that they did not re- 
ceive their testimonies and depositions as oracles, but 
reserved the right which Augustine allows to every 
man, of examining them by reason, and the Scripture? 
Neither are we to take any notice at all of Jerome, 
when he seems to except out of this number the wri- 
tings of Athanasius, and of Hilary; writing to Lseta, 
and telling her, that her daughter Paula might walk 
securely, and with firm footing, by the epistles of the 
one, and the books of the other; and therefore he 
counsels her "to take delight in these men's writings; 
inasmuch as in their books the piety of faith wavers 
not: and as for all other authors, she may read them; 
but rather to pass her judgment upon them, than to 
follow them."*)" For first of all, though perhaps there 
should be some work of a Father that should have no 
error in it, (as questionless there are many such,) yet 
this would not render the authority of the same infal- 
lible. How many such books are there, even of the 
moderns, wherein neither the one party nor the other 
has been able to discover the least error in matter of 
faith? And yet I suppose no man will at once con- 
clude from hence, that we ought to admit of these 
authors as judges of our faith. A man may there 
find perhaps the same truth, (as Augustine says a little 
before:) but it will not be of equal authority with that 
of the canonical books. Besides, as Cardinal Baro- 

* Hier. in Esai. Comm. x. 

j- Illorum tractatibus, illorum delectetur ingeniis, in quorum 
libris pietas fidei non vacillat. Ceeteros sic legat, ut magis judicet, 
qu&m sequatur. — Hier. Ejp. 7. ad Lcet. 



TIIEMSELVES IN MATTERS OF RELIGION. 229 

tiros* has observed, tins last passage of Jerome ought 
to be understood only in the point touching the Holy 
Trinity; concerning which there were at that time 
great disputes between the Catholics and the Arians; 
for otherwise, if his words be taken in a general sense, 
they will be found to be false, as to Hilary, who had 
his failings in some certain 'things, as we shall see 
hereafter. In a word, although Jerome were to be 
understood as speaking in a general sense, (as his 
words indeed seem to bear,) yet might the same thing 
possibly happen to him here, which he has observed 
has oftentimes befallen others; namely, to be mistaken 
in his judgment. For we are not to imagine, that he 
would have us entertain a greater opinion of him, than 
he himself has of other men. Augustine told him, as 
we have before shown, that he did not believe he ex- 
pected that men should judge otherwise of him; and I 
suppose we may very safely adhere to Augustine's 
judgment, and believe with him that Jerome had never 
any intention that we should receive all his positions 
as infallible truths: but rather that he would have us 
to read and examine his writings with the same free- 
dom that we do those of other men. 

If we have no wish to take Augustine's word in 
these particulars, let us yet receive Jerome's; w T ho in 
his second commentary upon the prophet Habakkuk 
says: "and thus have I briefly delivered to you my 
opinion; but if any one produce that which is more 
exact and true, take his exposition rather than mine."f 
So likewise upon the prophet Zephaniah he says, 
"we have now done our utmost endeavour, in giving 
an allegorical exposition of the text; but if any other 
can bring that which is more probable and agreeable 
to reason than that which we have delivered, let the 
reader be guided by his authority rather than by 

* Baron. AnnaL an. 369, Sect. 24. 

r Si quia antem ln> sagaciora el veriora repererit, illi magis ex- 
planation prabete consensum. — Hier* Com* 2. in Abac, 
20* 



230 THE FATHERS TESTIFY AGAINST 

ours."* And in another place he speaks to the same 
purpose in these words: "this we have written accord- 
ing to the utmost of our poor ability, and have given a 
short sketch of the divers opinions, both of our own 
men and of the Jews; yet if any man can give me a 
better and truer account of these things, I shall be 
very ready to embrace them."f 

Is this now, I would fain ask, to bind up our 
tongues and our* belief, so that we should have no 
further liberty of refusing what he has once laid 
down before us, or of searching into the reasons and 
grounds of his opinions? No, let us rather make use 
of that liberty which they all allow us ; let us hearken 
to them, only (as they themselves advise us) when 
what they deliver is grounded upon reason, and upon 
the Scriptures. If they had not made use of this cau- 
tion, in the reading of those authors who went before 
them, the Christian faith had now been altogether 
replete with the dreams of an Origen, or an Apolli- 
naris, or some other similar authors. But neither 
the fame of their learning, nor yet the resplendency 
of their holy life, which no man can deny to have 
shone forth in these primitive Fathers, was able so 
to dazzle the eyes of those that came after them, 
that they could not distinguish between what was sound 
and true in their writings, and what was trivial and 
false. Let not therefore the excellency of those who 
came after them hinder us, either from passing by, 
or even rejecting their opinions, when we find them 
ill founded. 

They confess themselves that this may very possi- 

* Si quis autem magis verisimilia, et habentia rationem, quara 
a nobis sunt disserta, repererit, illius magis lector auctoritate duca- 
tur. — Id. in Sophon. 

f Hsec ut quivimus, ut vires ingenioli nostri ferre potuerunt, lo- 
qiruti sumus, et Hebrseorum et nostrorum varias opiniones breviter 
perstringentes. Si quis melius, imo ver'Cis clixerit, et nos libenter 
melioribus aequiescemus. —Ilier. Com. in Zack. 



THEMSELVES IN MATTERS OF RELIGION. 231 

bly be: we should therefore be left utterly inexcusa- 
ble, if after this their so charitable admonition, we 
should still believe all they say, without examining 
anything. "I take it for a favour, (says Ambrose) 
when any one that reads my writings, gives me an 
account of what doubts he there meets with. First 
of all, because I maybe deceived in those very things 
which I know. And besides, many things escape us; 
and some things sound otherwise to some than per- 
haps they do to me."* 

I shall here further desire the reader to take notice, 
how careful the ancients were in advising those who 
lived in their own time to take a strict examination 
of their words: as for example, where Origen advises, 
M that his auditors should prove whatever he deliv- 
ered, and that they should be attentive, and receive 
the grace of the Spirit from whom proceeds the 
discerning of spirits, that thus, as good bankers, 
they might diligently observe w T hen their pastor de- 
ceives them ; and when he preaches to them that 
which is pious and true."f Cyril likewise, in his 
fourth catechesis, has these words: "Believe me not 
(says he) in whatsoever I shall simply deliver, unless 
thou find the things which I shall speak demonstrated 
out of the Holy Scriptures. For the conservation 
and establishment of our faith, is not grounded upon 
the eloquence of language, but rather upon the proofs 
that are brought out of the Divine Scriptures." 
)in)i £ fun z(o zavra aot kejvvze arzAoc iuar&Mnj^ y iav 
ztjp dftodeegw raw xaxocfjfeXXofxeywv dzo rwv tizuov /irj 

aim beneficio annumero, riqtria mea Legena Bcripta dieat 

milii, quo videatur moverL Primtun, quia et in Lia quae scio, falli 

] — am. Malta autem praetereunt, multa quibusdam alitei Bonant 

— . I • ' . I '. 7. Ep t 17. 

f Quaaso audientes, at diligenter attendant, ei accipianl gratiam 

stum eat discretio spirituum ; at probati trape- 

diligenter obeervent, quando ralaua aim magiater, quando 

quae oni pi yeritatia. ( >'"j- Horn, 2, in 



232 THE FATHERS TESTIFY AGAINST 

XaftrjQ ypa<ptov rj acorqpm yap abzrj zrj^ mazuDQ fjpcov 
ovx if supetrdoyza^ d?da ig dTiodecgstov zwv deicov iuzc 
ypacpwv* 

If therefore they would not have those who heard 
them speak viva voce, to believe them in anything, 
unless they had demonstrated the truth of it out of 
the Scriptures, how much less would they have us 
now receive, without this demonstration, those opin- 
ions which we meet with in their books, which are 
not only mute, but corrupted also, and altered so 
much, as we have formerly shov/n? 

Certainly, when I see these holy men on one side 
declaring that they are men subject to errors; and 
that therefore we ought to consider and examine 
what they deliver, and not take it all as oracular: 
and then on the other side, bring before my eyes 
these worthy maxims of the ages following: viz. 
"that their doctrine is the law of the Church uni- 
versal;" and "that we are bound to follow- it, not 
only according to the sense, but according to the 
bare words also: and that we are bound to hold all 
that they have written, even to the least tittle;"— c J2v 
(nazepo)v) za doypaza vop.0% ztj xadoXcxrj xaSeazrjxeu 
ExxXrj&ta. Turn; Ilaaa yap dvayrrj prj povov xaz* 
iwoeav zok; zcuv kytoiv nazepcou kneodac doypaocv, aXXa 
xac zoic, abzatQ ixzivaic, xs^pyadac cpcovacq;^ — this 
representation, I say, makes me call to mind the 
history of Paul and Barnabas, to whom the Lycaon- 
ians would needs render divine honour, notwithstand- 
ing all the resistance these holy men were able to 
make; who could not forbear to rend their garments, 
through indignation, at seeing that service paid to 
themselves which was due to the Divine Majesty 
alone; running in amongst them, and crying out 
aloud — " Sirs, why do ye these things ? we also are 

* Cyril. Hieros. Cateches. 4. 

f Serg. Patr. Constant. Mon. in ep. ad Cyr. Concil. VI. 



TIIEMSELVES IN MATTERS OF RELIGION. 233 

men of like passions wifch you." For seeing that 
there is none but God, whose word is certainly and 
necessarily true; and seeing that, on the other side, 
the word, whereon we ground and build our faith, 
ought to be such; who sees not, that it is the same as 
investing man with the glory which is due to God 
alone, and placing him in a manner in his seat, if we 
make his word the rule and foundation of our faith, 
and the judge of our differences concerning it ? 

I am therefore firmly of opinion, that if these holy 
men could now behold from their blessed mansions, 
where they now live in bliss on high with their Lord 
and Saviour, what things are acted here below, they 
would be very much offended at this false honour, 
which men confer upon them much against their 
wills; and would take it as a very great injury 
offered them ; seeing that they cannot receive this 
honour, but to the prejudice and diminution of the 
glory of their Redeemer, whom they love a thou- 
sands times more than themselves. Or if, from out 
of their sepulchres, where their mortal remains are 
now laid up, they could but make us hear their 
sacred voice, they would (I am very confident) most 
sharply reprove us for this abuse, and w T ould cry out, 
in the words of Paul, " Sirs, why do ye these things ? 
we also were men of like passions with you." 

Yet what need is there, either of ransacking their 
sepulchres, or of calling down their spirits from 
heaven; seeing that their voice resoundeth loud 
enough, and is heard so plainly in those very books 
of theirs, which we imprudently place in that seat, 
which is only due to the word of God? We have 
heard what the judgment was of Augustine and of 
Jerome, (the two most eminent persons in the western 
Church,) on this particular: let us not then be afraid, 
having such examples to follow, to speak freely our 
opinions* JJut now, before we ^o any further, I 
conceive it will be necessary, that we answer an 



234 THE FATHERS TESTIFY AGAINST 

objection that may be brought against us, which is, 
that Athanasius, Cyril, and Augustine himself also, 
frequently cite the Fathers. 

Besides what some have observed, that the Fathers 
seldom entered into these lists, but when they were 
provoked by their adversaries: I add further, that 
when we maintain that the authority of the Fathers 
is not a sufficient medium to prove an article of faith 
by, we do not thereby forbid either the reading or the 
citing of them. The Fathers often quote the writings 
of the learned Heathens, the oracles of the Sibyls, 
and passages out of the Apocryphal books. Did they 
therefore think that these books were of sufficient 
authority to ground an article of faith upon ? God 
forbid we should entertain so ill an opinion of them. 
Their faith was grounded upon the word of God: 
yet to evidence the truth more fully, they searched 
into human records, and by this inquiry made it 
appear that the light of the truth, revealed unto them, 
had in some degree shot its beams even into the 
schools of men, dark and obscure as they were. If 
they had produced no other but human authority, 
they would never have been able to have brought 
over any one person to the faith. But after they had 
derived from divine revelation the matter of our 
faith, it was very wisely done of them, in the next 
place, to prove, not the truth, but the clearness of it, 
by these little sparks which shot forth their light in 
the spirits of men. For the like reason did Augus- 
tine, Athanasius, Cyril, and many others of them, 
make use of allegations out of the Fathers. For after 
they had grounded, upon the authority of divine re- 
velation, the necessity and efficacy of grace, the con- 
substantiality of the Son with the Father, and the 
union of the two natures in Christ; they then began 
to produce several passages out of those learned men 
who had lived before them; to evince to the world 
that this truth was so clear in the word of God, that 



THEMSELVES IN MATTERS OF RELIGION. 235 

nil who preceded them had both seen and acknow- 
ledged the same: a plan both pleasing and profitable. 
For what can more delight a faithful heart, than to 
find that the most eminent persons in the Church, 
celebrated for their holiness and learning, had long 
since held the same opinions as regards our Saviour 
Jesus Christ and his grace, that we hold at this day? 

Yet it does not hence follow, that if these holy men 
had met with these articles of our faith only in the 
writings of their predecessors, without finding any 
foundation for them in the canonical Scriptures, they 
would notwithstanding firmly have believed and em- 
braced them, thus contenting themselves with the 
bare authority of their predecessors. Augustine pro- 
fesses plainly, that in such a case they might better 
have rejected them, and not be blamed for so doing, 
than have received them, unless they would incur the 
imputation of being credulous. For to believe any 
thing without reason is mere credulity : and he further 
affirms, that where men speak without either Scripture 
or reason, their bare authority is not sufficient to 
oblige us to believe what they propose to us. Hence 
it thus appears, that human testimonies are adduced, 
not to prove the truth of the faith, but only to show 
the evidence of it after it is once well grounded. 

Now the question is not concerning the evidence of 
the articles believed and taught by the Church of 
Rome; it lies upon them to prove even the very 
md and foundation of them. Show me. therefore, 
1 a Protestant here say,) either out of some text 
of Scripture, or else by some evident reason, that 
there is any such place as Purgatory, and that the 
Eucharist is not bread; and that the Pope is the mon- 
arch and head of the Church universal; and then I 
shall be very glad to try, if for our greater comfort 
we may be able to find, in the authors of the third or 
fourth century, these truths embraced by the Fathers 
of these times. 



236 THE FATHERS TESTIFY AGAINST 

But to begin with these, is to invert the natural 
order of things. We ought first to be assured that 
the thing is, before we make inquiry whether it has 
been believed or not. For to what purpose is it to 
find that the ancients believed it, unless we find withal 
in their writings some reason of this their belief? 
And again, on the other side, what harm is it to us to 
be ignorant whether antiquity believed it or not, so 
long as we know that the thing is? And whereas 
there are some who, to establish the supreme autho- 
rity of the Fathers, allege the counsel which Sisin- 
nius, a Novatian, and Agellius his bishop, gave of old 
to Nectarius, archbishop of Constantinople,* and by 
him to Theodosius the emperor, which was, that they 
should demand of the Arians, whether or not they 
would stand to what the Fathers who died before the 
breaking forth of their heresy, had delivered on the 
point disputed between them, this is hardly worth 
our consideration; for, this was a trick only,devised 
by a subtle head, and, which is worse, by a schismatic, 
and consequently to be suspected as a captious pro- 
posal, purposely made to entrap the adverse party; 
rather than any free and ingenuous way of proceed- 

If this manner of proceeding had been right and 
proper, how came it to pass, that so many Catholic 
Bishops never thought of it? How came it to pass, 
that they were so ignorant of the weapons wherewith 
the enemies of the Church were to be encountered? 
How happened it that it should be proposed only by 
a young man, and he a schismatic too? And if it 
were approved of, as right and good counsel, why 
did Gregory Nazianzen, Basil, and so many others of 
the Fathers who wrote in that age against the Arians, 
deal with them almost entirely by arguments from 
the Scriptures? Certainly those holy men, indepen- 

* Sozomen. 1. 7. c. 12. Hist. Eccles. 



THEMSELVES IN MATTERS OF RELIGION. 237 

dent of their Christian candour, which obliged them 
to this mode of proceeding, took a very wise course 
in so doing. For if this controversy had been to be 
decided by the authority of human writers, I know 
not how any man should have been able to make good 
what this conceited trifler so confidently affirms in the 
place just cited; namely, " that none of the ancients 
ever said that the co eternal Son of God had any be- 
ginning of his generation;" Eb yap //dec o>c ol 710X0x01 
eupcudiOh no naxpt rov ulov eupovrsz, obx iroX/irjaau 
elnec* ix zcoz d/ojf^C tyv ye^ear^ aurov iyscv ;* consid- 
ering those many harsh expressions that we yet at 
this day meet with on this particular, in the books of 
the first Fathers: which is the reason also why the 
Arians alleged their testimonies, as we see they do in 
the books of Athanasius, Hilary, and others of the 
ancients who wrote against them. But why need we 
insist so long upon a story which is rejected by car- 
dinal Baronius, as being an idle tale devised by So- 
zomen, who was a Novatian, in support of his own 
schism ?f 

The counsel of one Vincentius of Lerins, which he 
gives us in a certain little discourse of his, very highly 
praised by Gennadius^ is accounted by many men 
much more worthy of our consideration. For — hav- 
ing first told us, that he speaks not of any authors, 
"save only of such who, having piously, wisely, and 
constantly lived, taught, and persevered in the Ca- 
tholic faith and communion, obtained the favour at 
length, either to die faithfully in Christ, or else to 
suffer martyrdom happily for Christ's sake;" — he fur- 
ther adds, "that we are to receive, as certain and 
definitive, whatsoever all the aforesaid authors or at 
least the greatest part of them, have clearly, fre- 
quently, and constantly affirmed, with an unanimous 

- >zomon. ) t Baron. Annul. Ann. 8 

onad. in CataL inter. Op. Hie 

21 



238 THE FATHERS TESTIFY AGAINST 

consent, receiving, retaining, and delivering it over 
to others, making up all of them, as it were, but one 
common and unanimous council of doctors."* 

But this passage is so far from establishing the su- 
preme authority, which some would attribute to the 
Fathers in matters of faith, that, on the contrary, I 
meet with something in it that makes me doubt more 
of their authority than I did before. For I find, by 
this man's discourse, that whatsoever his reason was, 
whether good or bad, he clearly appears to have had 
a very great desire to bring all differences in religion 
before the judgment seat of the Fathers; and for this 
purpose, he labours to prove, with the same eager- 
ness and feeling, that their judgment is infallible in 
these cases. But in the meantime I find him so per- 
plexed and troubled in bringing out that which he 
would have, that it appears evident he saw well 
enough that what he desired was not agreeable to 
truth. For he has so qualified his proposition, and 
bound it in with so many limitations, that it is very 
probable, if all these conditions which he here re- 
quires were anywhere to be found, we might then 
safely, perhaps, rely upon the writing of the Fathers. 
But then, on the other side, it is so very difficult a 
matter to meet with such a conjunction of so many 
several qualifications, that we can never be sure of 
finding them all together. 

* Sed eorum duntaxat Patrum sententias conferendae sunt, qui in 
fide et communione Catholica sancte, sapienter, constanter viventes, 
docentes, et permanentes, vel mori in Christo fideliter, vel occidi 
pro Christo feliciter meruerunt. Quibus tamen hac lege creden- 
dum est, ut quicquid vel omnes, vel plures, uno eodemque sensu 
manifeste, frequenter, perseveranter, velut quodam eonsentiente 
sibi magistrorum concilio, accipiendo, tenendo, tradendo firmave- 
rint, id pro indubitato, certo, ratoque habeatur: quicquid verd 
quamvis ille sanctus et doctus, quamvis episcopus, quanivis con- 
fessor, et martyr, prseter omnes, aut etiam contra omnes senserit, 
id inter proprias, et occultas et privatas opiniunculas a communis, 
publicae, et generalis sententise authoritate secretum sit. — Vincent, 
Lirin. Comm. c. d$.—T. 4. Bibl. PP. 



THEMSELVES IN MATTERS OF RELIGION. 239 

First of all, for the persons of those raen whose 
testimonies we allege, he requires that they should be 
such as not only lived, but also taught, and which is 
more, persevered too, not only in the faith but in the 
communion also of the Catholic Church. And then, 
for fear of being surprised, he qualifies his words with 
a restriction of three adverbs, and tells us, that they 
must have lived and taught piously, wisely, and con- 
stantly. But yet this is not all; for besides this, they 
must have either died in Christ or for Christ. So 
that if they lived but did not teach; or if they both 
lived and taught, but did not persevere; or if they 
lived, taught, and also persevered in the faith, but not 
in the communion; or else in the communion, but not 
in the faith of the Catholic Church; or if they yet 
lived and taught in it piously but not wisely; or, on 
the contrary, wisely but not piously; and if, in the 
last place, after all this, having performed ail the par- 
ticulars before set down, they did not at last die either 
in Christ or for Christ; they ought not, according to 
this man's rule, to be admitted as witnesses in this 
case. Certainly he might have stopped here, and not 
have gone on still with his modifications as he does, 
limiting the number and the words of these witnesses. 
For what Christian ever made scruple of receiving 
the opinions of such a one as had piously, wisely, and 
constantly lived, and taught in the faith and commu- 
nion of the Catholic Church? For you might hence 
very well rest assured, that whatsoever he had de- 
livered was true; and consequently fit to be believed: 
for how could he have taught wisely and constantly 
if he had taught any false doctrine? All that he 
here promises us therefore is no more but this; that 
we shall be sure not to be deceived, provided that we 
believe no other doctrines but those which are holy 
and true. This promise of his is like that which little 
children are wont to make, when they tell you, that 
you shall never die, if you but cat always. Nor do I 



240 THE FATHERS TESTIFY AGAINST 

believe that there is any man in the world so perverse 
and wilful, as not readily to submit his faith to such a 
man, as he assuredly knew to be so qualified, as Vin- 
centius here describes. 

But seeing that it is necessary that we should first 
know the qualifications of a witness before we hear 
him ; it follows, in my judgment, that before we do so 
much as hear any of the Fathers, we ought to be first 
assured, that be was so qualified in every particular, 
according to Vincentius's rule before laid down. 
Now I would wish to be informed how it is possible 
for us to know this. Who will assure us, that Atha- 
nasius, Cyril, or what other Father you please, 
"lived, taught, persevered, and died piously, wisely, 
and constantly in the faith and communion of the 
Catholic Church ?" This can never be done without 
a most exact inquiry made, both into their life and 
doctrines, which is an impossible thing, considering 
the many ages that have passed from their times 
down to ours. But yet supposing that this were a 
possible thing, it would nevertheless be of no use at 
all as to this author's purpose. For he will have us 
hear the Fathers, to the end that we may be by them 
instructed in the truth. Now that we may be rightly 
informed, whether or not they were so qualified as is 
before required, we ought necessarily to know first of 
all what the truth is. For how is it otherwise possi- 
ble that we should be able to judge whether they 
have "taught piously and wisely ?" And if you were 
beforehand instructed in the truth, what need have 
you then to hear them, and to desire to be instructed 
in it by them? You may indeed make use of them 
for the illustration and confirmation of that which 
you knew before; but you cannot learn any truth from 
them which you knew not before. If you understand 
the maxim before alleged in another sense, and take 
this wisdom and piety, this faith and communion of 
the Catholic Church therein mentioned for a shadow 



THEMSELVES IN MATTERS OF RELIGION. 241 

only, and the superficies and outward appearance of 
those things, and for a common and empty opinion, 
grounded merely upon the public voice, and not upon 
an exact knowledge of the thing itself, it will then 
prove to be manifestly false; those persons who have 
but the outward appearance only, and not the reality 
of these qualities, being no way fit to be admitted as 
witnesses, much less to be received as the supreme 
judges of the articles of the Christian faith. Thus 
this proposition is either impossible, if you under- 
stand it as the words seem to sound, or else it is false, 
if you take it in a looser sense. The like exceptions 
may be made against those other conditions, w T hich he 
there farther requires, on the number and the words 
of these witnesses. For he allows not the force of a 
law to anything, but what has been delivered either 
by all, or else by the greatest part of them. If by 
all, he here means all the Fathers that have ever 
been, or but the greatest part of them only, he then 
puts us upon an impossibility. For taking the whole 
number of Fathers that have ever been, the greatest 
and perhaps too the best part of them have not writ- 
ten anything at all : and among those that have writ- 
ten, how many has time devoured? and how many 
have the false dealings of men either w r holly sup- 
pressed or else corrupted? It is therefore evidently 
impossible to know, what the opinions have been, 
either of all, or of the greatest part of the Fathers 
in this sense. And if he restrains this all, and this 
greatest part, to those who appear at this day, either 
in their own books, or in histories and the writings of 
other men, it will concern us then to inquire, whether 
or not, by all, he means all promiscuously, without 
distinguishing them by the several ages in which they 
lived: or else, whether he would have us distinguish 
them into several classes, putting together in the same 
rank all those that lived in one and the same age; 
and receiving for truth whatsoever we find to have 
21* 



242 THE FATHERS TESTIFY AGAINST 

been held and confirmed by the greatest part of them. 
Now both these ways agree in one thing, that they 
render the judgment of the Christian faith wholly 
casual, and make it depend upon divers and sundry 
accidents, which have been the cause of the writings 
of the Fathers being either preserved or lost. Sup- 
pose that Vincentius had established, by -this excellent 
course of his, some point or other which had been 
controverted: he must have thanked the fire, the 
water, the moths, or the worms for having spared 
those authors which he made use of, and for having 
consumed all those others that wrote in favour of the 
adverse party : for otherwise he would have been a 
heretic. And if we should decide our differences in 
matters of faith after this manner, we should do in a 
measure as he did, who gave judgment upon the suits 
of law that came before him, by the chances he threw 
with three dice. 

Do but conceive what an endless labour it would 
be, for a man either to go and heap together, and run 
over promiscuously all the authors that ever have 
written; or else to distinguish them into the several 
ages in which they wrote, and to examine them by 
companies. And do but imagine again, what satis- 
faction a man should be able to obtain from hence; 
and where we should be, in case we should find, (as 
it is possible it may sometimes so happen, as we shall 
show hereafter,) that the sense and judgment of this 
greatest part should prove to be either contrary to, or 
perhaps besides, the sense and meaning either of the 
Scriptures or of the Church. And again, how sense- 
less a thing were it, to make the suffrages of equal 
authority, of persons that are so unequal, in respect 
of their merit, learning, holy life, and integrity: and 
that a Rheticius, whom Jerome censured so sharply 
a little before, should be reckoned equal to Augus- 
tine: or a Philastrius be as good a man as Jerome? 
There is perhaps among the Fathers one, whose judg- 



TIIEMSELVES IN MATTERS OF RELIGION. 243 

ment is of more weight than a hundred others; and 
yet forsooth will this man have us to make our far- 
things and our pence pass for as much as our shil- 
lings and pounds. 

Lastly, what reason in the world is there, that al- 
though perhaps the persons themselves were equal in 
other respects, we should yet make their words also 
of equal force, which are often of very different and 
unequal authority; some of them having been uttered, 
as it were, before the bar, the books having been pro- 
duced, both parties heard, and the w r hole cause tho- 
roughly examined; and the other perhaps having 
been thrown out by their authors at hap- hazard as it 
were; either in their chamber, or else in discourse 
walking abroad; or else perhaps by the by, while 
they were treating of some other matter? But our 
author here, to prevent in some degree this latter in- 
convenience, requires, that the word of this greatest 
part, which he will allow to be authoritative, must 
have been uttered by them "clearly, often, and con- 
stantly ;" and then, and not till then, does he allow 
them for certain and undoubted truth. And now you 
see he is got into another hold. For I wish to be in- 
formed, how it is possible for us to know whether 
these Fathers whom we thus have called out of their 
graves to give us their judgment on the controversies 
in religion, affirmed those things which we find in 
their writings, clearly, often, and constantly, or not? 
If in this his pretended council of doctors, you will 
not allow the right of suffrage to those, of whom it 
may be doubted that they either expressed themselves 
obscurely, or gave in their testimonies but seldom, or 
but weakly maintained their own opinion; I pray you 
tell me, whom shall we have left at last to be the 
judges in the decision of our present controversies? 

A- for the Apostles' creed, and the determinations 
of the first four general councils, (which are assented 
to, and approved by all the Protestant party,) I con- 



244 THE FATHERS TESTIFY AGAINST 

fess we may, by this way of trial, allow them as com- 
petent judges in these matters. But as for all the 
rest, it is evident, from what has been stated in the 
First Part of this treatise, that we can never admit of 
them, if they are thus to be qualified, and to have all 
the afore-mentioned conditions. We may therefore 
very safely conclude, that the expedient here pro- 
posed by this author is either impossible, or not safe 
to be reduced to practice ; and I shall therefore rather 
approve of Augustine's judgment, as regards the au- 
thority of the Fathers. 

I should not have insisted so long upon the exami- 
nation of this proposal, had I not seen it to have been 
in such high esteem with many men, and even with 
some of the learned.* For after Augustine and Je- 
rome have delivered their judgments, it matters not 
much what this man shall have believed to the con- 
trary. Yet before we finish this point, let us a little 
examine this author, both by Augustine's and" by his 
own rule before laid down. 

Augustine considers us not bound to believe the 
saying of any author, except he can prove to us the 
truth of it, either by the canonical Scriptures, or by 
some probable reason. What text of Scripture, or 
what reason has this man alleged to prove the truth 
of what he has proposed? So that whatever his 
opinion be, he must not take it amiss, if, according to 
the advice and practice of Augustine, we take leave 
to dissent from him : especially considering we have 
so many reasons to reject that which he, without any 
reason given, would have us to receive. 

Thus you see that, according to the judgment of 
Augustine, the saying of this Vincentius of Lerins, 
although you should class him among the most emi- 
nent of the Fathers, does not at all oblige us to give 
our assent to it. And yet you will find that this tes- 

* Perron, Cassander, &c. 



THEMSELVES IN MATTERS OF RELIGION. 245 

timony would be yet of much less force and weight, if 
you but examine the man by his own rule. For ac- 
cording to him, we are not to hearken to the Fathers, 
except they both lived and taught piously and wisely, 
even to the hour of their death. Who is there now 
that will pass his word for him, that he himself was 
one of this number? Who shall assure us, that he 
was not either a heretic himself, or at least a favourer 
of heretics? For is it not evident enough that he 
favoured the Semi-Pelagians, who at that time in 
Gaul, railed against the memory of Augustine, and 
who were condemned by the whole Church? Who 
cannot easily see this, by his manner of discourse in 
his Commonitorium tending this way;* where he 
seems to intimate to us underhand, that Prosper and 
Hilary had unjustly slandered them ; and that Pope 
Celestine, who also wrote against them, had been mis- 
informed ?f May not he also be strongly suspected 
of having been the author of those "Objections" 
made against Augustine, and refuted by Prosper, 
which are called Objectiones Vinceyitianse, (Vincent's 
Objections.)^ The great commendations also which 
are given him by Gennadius, very much confirm this 
suspicion ;§ it being clear that this author was of the 
same sect, as appears plainly by the great account he 
makes of Ruffinus, a priest of Aquileia, who was the 
Grand Patriarch of the Pelagians, saying, "that he 
was not the least part of the doctors of the Church;" 
tacitly reproaching Jerome his adversary, and calling 
him, "a malicious slanderer :" and also by the judg- 
ment which he gives of Augustine, who was flagel- 
lum Pelagianorum. (the scourge of the Pelagians ;)|| 
pacing this insolent censure upon him, "that in 

* Vincent. Lirin. in Comm. 2. c. 43. 

estinua apud Aug. 1. 2, Contr. Pelag. el Celest. i 
; ' ject Vincent. 

L in Ruff, inter I 4». Micron. 



246 THE FATHERS TESTIFY AGAINST 

speaking so much, it had happened to him, what the 
Holy Ghost has said by Solomon, That in the multi- 
tude of words there wanteth not sin."* 

Thus I cannot sufficiently wonder at the boldness 
of Cardinal du Perron, who when he has any occa- 
sion for quoting this author, usually calls him " St. 
Vincent of Lerins;" thus by a very bad example 
canonizing a person who w T as strongly suspected to 
have been a heretic. f Since therefore he was such, 
why should anyone think it strange that he should so 
much laud the judgment and opinions of the Fathers, 
as every one knows that the Pelagians and Semi-Pe- 
lagians had the better of it, by citing their authori- 
ties, and laboured by this means to run down Au- 
gustine's name; and all this forsooth, only because 
the greatest part of the Fathers, who lived before 
Pelagius's time, had delivered themselves with less 
caution than they might have done, on those points 
which were by him afterwards brought into question; 
and many times too in such strange expressions, as 
"will scarcely be reconciled to any orthodox sense? 

Notwithstanding, should we allow this Vincentius 
to have been a person who was thus qualified, and to 
have had all those conditions, which he requires in a 
man, to render him capable of being attended to in 
this particular, what weight, I would ask, ought this 
proposal of his to carry with it, which yet is not 
found anywhere in the mouth of any of those Fathers 
who preceded him; which is also strongly contra- 
dicted both by Augustine and Jerome, as we have 
seen in those passages before adduced from them: 
and which besides, is full of obscurities and inexpli- 
cable ambiguities? 

Thus, " however learned and holy a man he might 
be; whether he were a bishop, confessor, or martyr, 
(which he was not,) this proposal of his (according to 

* Proverbs x. 19. 

f Du Perron, en la Kepliq. au Roy de la Grande Bret, passim. 



THEMSELVES IN MATTERS OF RELIGION. 247 

his own maxims) ought to be excluded from the au- 
thority of public determinations, and to be accounted 
only as his own particular private opinion."* Let us 
therefore in this business rather follow the judgment 
of Augustine, which is grounded upon evident rea- 
son — a person whose authority (whenever it shall be 
questioned) will be found to be incomparably greater 
than that of Vincentius of Lerins: and let us not 
henceforth give credit to any sayings or opinions of 
the Fathers, save only those, the truth of which they 
shall have made evident to us, either by the canonical 
books of Scripture, or by some probable reason. 



CHAPTER III. 

Reason Til. — That the Fathers have written in such a manner, as 
to make it clear that when they wrote they had no intention of 
being our authorities in matters of religion; as evinced by ex- 
amples of their mistakes and oversights. 

Whoever takes the pains diligently to consider the 
manner of writing by the Fathers, will not require 
any other testimony for the proof of the above truth. 
For the very form of their writings witnesses clear 
enough, that in the greatest part of them they had no 
intention of delivering such definitive sentences, as 
were to be binding, merely by the single authority of 
the mouth which uttered them: but their purpose was 
rather to communicate to us their own meditations 
on divers points of our religion; leaving us free to 
examine them, and to approve or reject the same, 
according as we saw proper. Thus has Jerome ex- 
pressly delivered his mind, as we showed before, 
where he speaks of the nature and manner of coin- 

* Vincent. Liriu. Common. 1. c. 39, ubi supra. 



248 THE FATHERS ARE NO AUTHORITY 

mentaries on the Holy Scriptures. And certainly if 
they had had any other design or intention, they 
would never have troubled themselves, as they usually 
do, in gathering together the several opinions of other 
men. This diligence, I confess, is laudable in a 
teacher, but it would be very ridiculous in a judge. 
Their style also should be entirely of another kind: 
and those obscurities which we have observed in the 
former part of this treatise, proceeding either from 
the rhetorical ornaments or the logical subtilties 
which they adopt, should have no place here. For 
who could tolerate any such thing in pronouncing a 
sentence of judgment, or indeed in giving one's bare 
testimony only to anything? But that which makes 
the truth of this our assertion more clearly to appear 
than all the rest, is the little care and diligence that 
they took, in composing the greatest part of these 
writings of theirs, which we would now wish to be 
the rules of our faith. If these men, who were en- 
dued with such sanctity, had had any intention of 
prescribing to posterity a true and perfect rule of 
faith, is it probable that they would have gone care- 
lessly to work, in a business of such great importance? 
Would they not rather have gone to it with their eyes 
opened, their judgments settled, their thoughts fixed, 
and every faculty of their soul attentively bent upon 
the business in hand; for fear that, in a business of so 
great weight as this, something might chance to fall 
from them, not so becoming their own wisdom, or so 
suitable to the people's advantage? A judge, that 
had but ever so little conscience, would not otherwise 
give sentence concerning the oxen, the field, and the 
gutters of Titius and Msevius. How much more is 
the same gravity and deliberation requisite here, 
where the question is on the faith, the souls, and the 
eternal salvation of all mankind? It were clearly 
therefore the greatest injury that could be offered to 
these holy persons, to imagine that they would have 



IN MATTERS OF RELIGION. 249 

taken upon them to have passed judgment in so 
weighty a cause as this, but with the greatest care 
and attention that could be. Now it is evident, on 
the other side, that in very many of those writings of 
theirs, which have come down to our hands, there 
seems to be very much negligence; or, to speak a 
little more tenderly of the business, want of care at 
least, both in the invention, method, and elocution. 
If therefore we tender the reputation either of their 
honesty or wisdom, we ought rather to say, that their 
design in these books of theirs, was not to pronounce 
definitively upon this particular, neither are their 
writings judiciary sentences or final judgments, but 
rather discourses of different kinds, occasioned by 
divers emergencies; and are more or less elaborate, 
according to the time, judgment, age, and disposition 
they were of, when they wrote them. Now although 
this want of diligence and of deliberation, appears of 
itself evident enough to any one that reads the 
Fathers with the least attention, yet, that I may not 
leave this assertion of mine unproved, I shall here 
give you some few instances merely as a sample. 

First of all, there are many pieces among the 
works of the Fathers, which were written in haste; 
and some too, which were mere extemporary dis- 
courses, and such as, in all probability, their authors 
themselves would have found many things therein 
which would have required correction, had they had 
but leisure to review the same. 

Jerome, in a prologue to certain Homilies of Origen, 
translated by him into Latin, says that Origen com- 
posed and delivered them in the Church extempore.* 
As to these, therefore, we are well satisfied by Je- 
rome; but how many, in the meantime, may there be 
of the like nature, among those numerous Homilies 
of Chrysostom, Augustine, and others; all which we 

* Hier. Prol. in Bom. Orig, in les. Nan. 
22 



250 THE FATHERS ARE NO AUTHORITY 

perhaps imagine to have been leisurely and deliber- 
ately studied, digested, and composed, which yet some 
sudden occasion might perhaps have put forth into 
the world on the instant, and which were as soon 
born as conceived, and as soon published as made ? 

Jerome often tells us, that he dictated what he 
wrote in haste. Thus at the end of that long epistle 
which he wrote to Fabiola, he says, "that he had 
despatched it in one short evening, when he was about 
to set sail on a voyage."* And (which is a matter 
of much more importance) he says in another place, 
"that he had allotted himself but three days for the 
translating of the three books of Solomon ;" namely, 
the Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and the Canticles ;f which 
yet a man will hardly be able to read over well and 
exactly in a month, by reason of the great difficulties 
he will there meet with, as well in the words and 
phrases, as in the sense. Yet for all this (if, what 
the Church of Rome pretends, be true) this little 
three-days' work of Jerome has proved so fortunate, 
as to deserve, not only to be approved and highly 
esteemed, but even canonized also by the Council of 
Trent. 

Now whether the will of our Lord be, that we 
should receive this translation as his pure word or 
not, 1 leave to those who have a desire and ability to 
examine. However I dare confidently affirm that 
Jerome himself never had the least thought or hope 
that this piece of his should one day come to this 
honour; it being a thing not to be imagined, but that 
he would have taken both more time and more pains 
in the matter, if ever he had desired or foreseen this. 
Thus it sometimes happens, that men have better for- 
tune than ever they wished for. The same author 

* Hier. Ep. 128, ad Fabiol. t. 3, vid. et in Epitaph. Marcel. 
Epist. 16, extr. 

f Itaque, &c. tridui opus nomini vestro consecravi, interpreta- 
tionem videlicet trium bulomonis voluminum. — Id. Prcef. in Prov. 



IN MATTERS OF RELIGION. 251 

>, at the end of another production of his, "that 
it was an extemporary piece, and poured out so fast, 
that his tongue outran the hands of his amanuenses, 
and by its volubility and swiftness, in a manner, con- 
founded them and their ciphers and abbreviations."* 
He elsewhere excuses in like manner another work of 
his, of no small importance (his commentary upon the 
Q »spel of Matthew,) telling us, that as he had been 
straitened in time, he was constrained to dictate it in 
very great haste. So likewise in the preface to his 
second commentary upon the Epistle of Paul to the 
Ephesians, he confesses that he wrote it in such great 
haste, that he many times made as much of it as came 
to a thousand lines in a day. In a word, that I may 
not weary the reader with producing all the instances 
of the same kind, that I could here adduce, it is his 
ordinary way of excusing himself, either in prefaces, 
or else at the closing up of all his discourses, to say 
that either the messenger was in haste, or some de- 
sign called him away; or else some other similar 
cause was alleged. So that he scarcely did anything 
but in haste, and at full speed. Sometimes again, 
either sickness had broken his spirit, or else the study 
of the Hebrew had made his tongue grow rusty, or 
his pen was not able to exert its wonted power. 

Now, if he would have us receive all his sayings as 
oracles, and did not indeed desire us rather to excuse 
some things in him, and to forgive him in others, why 
should he use these speeches? Who ever heard a 
judge excuse himself on account of the shortness of 
the time? Would not this be rather to accuse than 
to excuse himself, by making such an apology as this 
for himself; forasmuch as giving an over hasty judg- 
ment in any c - a very great fault? In my 
opinion the Fathers could not more clearly have de- 

* E ad lumen Incenraln facili- 

inn manna lingua pi ©currer i ao 

furta verburum volttbilil aum obrueret. — Id. Lp. 47. 



252 THE FATHERS ARE NO AUTHORITY 

prived themselves of this dignity of being our judges, 
with which we w r ould invest them, whether they will 
or not, than by writing and speaking after this man- 
ner. But yet, although Jerome had not given us 
these advertisements, which yet ought to make us look 
well also to the rest of the Fathers, it appears evi- 
dently enough, out of their very writings themselves, 
how little both time and diligence they bestowed, in 
composing the greatest part of them. For otherwise 
how could so many trifling faults, in history, gram- 
mar, philosophy, and the like, have escaped such 
great and eminent persons, who were so well fur- 
nished with all sorts of literature? How happened 
it, that they thus either forgot or else mistook them- 
selves, as they have sometimes done? 

I shall here give the reader some few examples of 
this kind, not to detract from the praises due to these 
learned persons, as if we thought them really to have 
committed these errors out of ignorance, but rather to 
let the world see, that they did not always make use 
of their whole store of worth and learning; and that 
sometimes they either could not, or else would not, 
make use but of some part only of their knowledge, 
and of their time; which is a most certain argument, 
that they had never any intention of being received 
by us as judges in points of faith. 

I shall not say much of their errors in matters of 
time, which are both very notorious and very fre- 
quent with them: as, for example, where Justin Mar- 
tyr says that, "David lived fifteen hundred years be- 
fore the crucifixion of Christ;" — Aaficd irew ^dcocc; 

/JJ.C TiEVTaXOOLOtC, Tzptv '}] XpCOTOV &v6 \oW7TOV yzvofizvov 
(TTaupwd'qvat, ra Trpoecpr^/iepa i<py ;* it being very ap- 
parent, by observing the course of times, derived 
through history both sacred and profane, that from 
the death of David to the birth of our Saviour Christ, 

* Just. Apol. 



IN MATTERS OF RELIGION. 253 

there elapsed no more than a thousand and twenty- 
five or thirty years, or thereabouts. So likewise, 
when Epiphanius writes, "that Moses was but thirty 
years old when he brought forth the children of Israel 
out of Egypt:" — L de Murxrr^ sv zco A f auzou izsc 
TTarse vqu ipuOpav dalaaaav, ckaa ' IapocrjkczacQ iz 
Aifwnou igewv:* whereas the Scriptures clearly tes- 
tify, that he w r as eighty years of age. And also 
where he affirms, "that the taking of the city of Je- 
rusalem happened sixty-five years after the passion 
of our Saviour Christ: — Afovev jJ ipyfjLOMrez'hpotro- 
Xufitov fjteza hgyxoazov nefmzop izoz nyc Xpeazou 
ozu.'jpcoGzco^ xcu 'fjuzpa^ r*vac«t 

Chrysostom says that Jerusalem was destroyed by 
Titus five hundred years before his own time. In 
another place, he reckons the period at four hundred 
years. Now it is well known that only three hundred 
and thirty-three or four years elapsed between that 
event and the banishment of Chrysostom. He also 
states that Hezekiah lived one thousand years after 
the death of David ; whereas the interval was not as 
much as four hundred years. 

Truly the chronology of the ancients is generally 
very strange, and for the most part very far wide of 
the truth, as has been observed, and also proved at 
large, by all the moderns; as Scaliger, Petavius, and 
others. But these matters are so very difficult, that 
oftentimes the most diligent inquiries into them may 
chance to mistake. I shall therefore forbear to insist 
any longer upon this particular; and shall now lay 
before you some examples of another nature, and 
such as shall most evidently discover the carelessness 
and negligence of these authors. 

Justin Martyr, speaking of the translation of the 
Seventy Interpreters, says " that Ptolemy king of 

■ >r. num. 1 12. 
.. de. Ponder, i Rum. 12. 



254 THE FATHERS ARE NO AUTHORITY 

Egypt sent his ambassadors to Herod king of Ju- 
dea," — {'Ore de IlToXsfjiatoz b Aiyonrccvv fiaadsoz 
ficftXtod'/jZYjV xazecrxeuaae, &c. TCpoaenefape rep tojv 
Ioudatcov tots fiaacXeuovTc c Hpco8/j aguov, dcaTrepcpdyjvae 
aurco ra<z ftcfiXou<; tcov Trpocpyjreccov ;)* whereas the 
truth of the story is, that he sent to Eleazar the high 
priest, two hundred forty and odd years before Herod 
was king of Judea. 

Epiphanius tells us, in two or three places, that the 
Peripatetics and Pythagoreans were one and the same 
sect of heathen philosophers ;f which yet were as 
much different one from the other, as the Stoics and 
Epicureans were ; as every child knows. The same 
author also confidently affirms, though contrary to 
the faith of all ancient history, that the several sects 
and opinions in philosophy sprang from some certain 
mysteries brought to Athens by Orpheus and others ; J 
and that the Stoics believed the immortality and 
transmigration of souls ;§ both of which are false: and 
likewise that Nabuchadonosor sent a colony into the 
country about Samaria, after the taking of Jerusa- 
lem ;|| whereas, in truth, it was Shalmaneser who had 
so done, long before the other's time. What can you 
think of him, when you find him mistaken in such 
things, as happened not many years before he was 
born; as when he says that Arius died before the 
council of Nice ;*[ and when he relates the story of 
Meletius and his schism altogether contrary to the 
truth? 

Justin Martyr likewises assures us, as a certain 
truth, that in the reign of the Emperor Claudius, 
there was erected at Rome a statue to Simon Magus, 
in the river Tiber, between the two bridges, with this 
inscription: "TO the holy god simon:" — c Oq (Itptov) 

* Justin. Mart. Apol. 2. 

f Epiphan. in Panar. lib. 1, et Anaceph. p. 127, 129, 133. 

X Id. contr. Hgeres. 1. 1. $ Id. User. 5. 

|| Id. Panar. 1. 1. II Id. Hser. Arian. 69. num. 10, 11. 



IN MATTERS OF RELIGION. 255 

kv nj noXu flcuTchdt "Pco/iy 0so$ ivofuadty xat tkvbpiavtt 

Tzao bjicov o»c O&K zezcjLYjZar 6c dpdpcac d^Vffffzpxai &v 
rco Tcftepe TZOTa/jLtO) fjiSTaZu zcov duo yecpvpcov, tycov 
htcfpatfrrp) ^ l\oaairr t v toukijv Iifitovc deco oayxzco:* 
whereas, as our learned critics now inform us, it was 
only an inscription to one of the Pagan demigods, in 
those words, "SEMONI DEO SANCOrf which this good 
Father mistook; instead of Semoni, reading Simoni; 
and for sanco reading sancto. 

Eusebius says,J and Jerome frequently repeats it 
after him,§ that Josephus, the Jewish historian, re- 
ports, that at the time of our Saviour's passion the 
heavenly powers forsook the temple of Jerusalem; 
and that there was a great noise heard, and a voice 
saying, Meza^acvco;iev ivzsudsv, " Let us depart 
hence;" and yet nevertheless the truth of the story 
is, that Josephus reported this to have happened at 
the time the city was besieged ; that is to say, above 
thirty-five years after the death of our Saviour. 

The same authors, and in a manner all others after 
them, || have constantly delivered, as a certain truth, 
that Philo the Jew, in that book of his entitled "De 
Vita Contemplative" describes to us the manner of 
life of the Christian Aotojtcu, or Monks; and yet that 
book of Philo, which is still extant, proclaims loud 
enough, that he there speaks not of the Christians 
but of the Essenes, who were one of the three sects 
among the Jews; as has been observed by Scaliger, 
and various others after him.^f We have noticed 
how Ambrose,** without giving us any account of his 
reasons why he does so, understands by Gog and 

* Just. Mart. A.pol. 2. f Desider. Herald, in Apol. TertuL 

% Euseb. in Chron. et *AW*£. 8. p. 260. 

\ I Tier. ep. 160, Eedibise Comment. 4. in Matth. ep. 17, qure est 
Paul, et Bnstoch. T. i. p. 163. 

|| Euseb. Hist. Eccles. 1. 2. c. 15, 16. Hier. lib. de Script. Bc- 
cles. 

1f Scalig. de Emend. Temp. 1. 6. c. 1. 

** Ainbros. 1. 2. de fide ad Gralian. 



256 THE FATHERS ARE NO AUTHORITY 

Magog mentioned in Ezekiel, the nations of the 
GrotJiSj who in his time overran all Christendom. He 
tells us in another place, with the very same confi- 
dence, that Zacharias,* the father of John the Bap- 
tist, was high priest of the Jews ; which yet Baronius 
has clearly proved to be false. f 

Epiphanius affirms that Pison, which was one of 
the four rivers that watered the terrestrial Paradise, 
mentioned by Moses, "was the same that the Indians 
and Ethiopians call Granges, and the Greeks Indus: 
which river passing at length through Ethiopia, dis- 
charges itself at last into the ocean at Cadiz! Kcu 
0ztocov fxeu iaztv 6 rayyrjQ Trap a zoo; ' Ivdou; xaXoopevoQ 
xcu AWtoipw ^EXXrjve^ xcu zoozov xaXooacv fodov 
Tiozafiov, &c. dcarrspa de zyv /jteyaXrjv Aldiorttav, xcu duet 
eacodev radecpav ere zov pzyov d)xeavov.% What won- 
derful geography have we here, (if at least we may 
call it by this name,) which jumbles together the east 
and the west, and confounds places which are nearly 
a whole hemisphere distant from each other ! 

Basil also, who is otherwise an excellent author, 
has mistaken likewise, though not so much, the source 
of the river Danube; for he only makes it rise out of 
the Pyrenean mountains: — 'Arvo de doapcov zcov 
depivojv bizo zo Iluppyvatov opoz Tapzrjao^ ze, xac 

9 l0TpO(C.§ 

Speaking of those rivers reminds me, that all the 
Fathers|| unanimously understand by Grihon (one of 
the rivers of Paradise,) the river Nile, which has so 
deceived cardinal Perron also,^f that he delivers it to 
us as the express text of the Scripture ; by this means 
making it guilty of a manifest absurdity, however in- 
nocent in itself it be, and free from intending any 

* Ambros. Comment, in Luc. t Baron, in Apparat. num. 69. 
J Epiphan. in Ancor. \ Basil. Horn. 3. in Isa. 

|| Tkeoph. Antioch. 1. 2. Ambros. 1. de Parad. c. 3. Epiph. 
Panar. haer. 66. Hieron. de locis Hebr. voc. Geon. Alii. 
Tf Du Perron en sa Repr. p. 950. 



IN MATTERS OF RELIGION. 257 

such thing; since neither in the Hebrew, Greek, nor 
Latin text, is it ever said that the river Nile watered 
the land of Paradise; it being only a dream of the 
Fathers, that one of those rivers of Paradise must 
needs have been the Nile; though this fancy of theirs 
(as Scaliger makes it appear,* and as it is confessed 
by Petavius also,f) is built upon no ground or reason 
at all. 

Neither has their philosophy been less wonderful 
than their geography: as for example, when Tertul- 
lian maintains,^ that plants are endued both with 
feeling and understanding. So likewise where Epi- 
phanius holds, § that it is impossible for a dead man 
to return to life again, without the reunion of the soul 
to the body. As also where Ambrose says that the 
sun, to the end he may allay his extreme heat, re- 
freshes himself with the nourishment which he draws 
up from the waters; ernd that from hence it is, that 
we sometimes see him appear as it were all over wet, 
and dropping with dew.|| 

Again, you have some of them treating the doc- 
trine of the spherical figure of the heavens with very 
great scorn; and maintaining, that it is only, as it 
were, an arch which is built upon the waters as on 
its base.^f Others of them you have, who will not 
endure to hear of the earth being of a spherical figure, 
or of the Antipodes; and account those men little less 
than infidels, who shall offer to maintain any such 
opinions.** But these are not bare mistakes and 
oversights only; but are rather errors w T hich pro- 
ceeded from the want of a due examination and a 

de Emend. Temp. f Peta. in Epiph. p. 871. 

X Tertul. 1. de An. o. L9. 
J Bpiphan. in Ancor. num. 90. 

videmofl madidum, atque rorantem, in quo 
it indicium quod alimentum sibi aquarum ad temperiem 
sui Bumpserit — I m : ■ ■ ■ II \cu m. I. -. 
1* Justin. QoflBst el !!•• pons. Qu. 130. ad iutolyo. 
** Lactam. Iu^tit. 1. :j. c. 84. August, dc Civil. Dei, 1. 1G. c. 0. 



258 THE FATHERS ARE NO AUTHORITY 

right apprehension of things. As for their grammati- 
cal errors, they are more frequent and usual with 
them than any other: and the reason of their so often 
mistaking here, is the little knowledge they had of 
the Hebrew tongue: as, for instance, when Optatus, 
and some others of them, deduce the name Cephas 
from the Greek xeipaXr], which signifies a head:* 
whereas Cepha is a Syriac word, and signifies a stone, 
as the Evangelist expressly testifies. f Ambrose is in 
the like manner mistaken, where he derives the word 
Pascha, which is of Hebrew extraction, and which 
signifies properly a passing, from a Greek word sig- 
nifying to suffer ;\ in which etymology he is faith- 
fully followed by Pope Innocent III., in an oration 
of his, which he made at the opening of the council of 
Lateran.§ 

We have heretofore noticed some errors of theirs of 
this nature, observed by Jerome, to whom the Church 
is very much obliged, both for the great pains that he 
took to attain so deep a knowledge of the Hebrew 
tongue; and also for the great courage he had in 
freely noting all such impertinences, whenever he 
met with them ; who or however great the authors of 
them were. All the rest of the Fathers, a very few 
only excepted, do here as it were only grope their 
way in the dark: and hence it is that we have so 
many wild etymologies given by them of the proper 
names we meet with in the Scriptures. Who can 
read without amazement, what Irenseus has delivered 
on the derivation of the name of Jesus ; which he will 
have to be composed of two letters and a half ;|| add- 

* Omnium Apostolorum caput Petrus, unde et Cephas appellatus 
est. — Optat. I. contr. Don. 

f John i. 42. 

J Quod quidem sacrum nomen ab ipsius Domini passione descen- 
dit. — Ambros. 1. de Pasch. c. I. 

$ Innoc. III. Ser. L in Concil. Later. 

.|| Jesus autem nomen secundum propriam Hebraeorum linguam, 
literarum est duarum et dimidias, &c. — Iren. contr. Rozr. I. 2. c. 41. 



IN MATTERS OF RELIGION. 259 

ing moreover, that in the ancient language of the 
Hebrews it signifies heaven, notwithstanding that the 
angel expressly testified at the very beginning of 
Matthew's gospel, that our Saviour Christ was called 
Jesus, because "lie was to save his people from their 
sins."* 

Of the like nature is his assertion, "That the name 
of God, Adonai, signifies wonderful: or if you w T rite 
thus, Addhonei, it then signifies Him that bounds and 
separates the earth from the water." He gives simi- 
lar etymologies of the words Sabaoth, and Jaoth. 
Similar to these are those mysteries of which he in- 
forms us, in the afore-cited treatise of his, which no 
author else, either ancient or modern, ever heard of;f 
telling us that Barneth is the name of God in He- 
brew; and that the first and most ancient Hebrew 
letters, which were called Sacerdotal, were only ten 
in number, and were written fifteen different ways. 

Out of the same storehouse has Clemens Alexan- 
drinus produced us that precious etymology which 
he has given of the name of Abraham, saying, "It 
is, by interpretation, The elect Father of a sound." 
l EpfjajueueTOu fieu yap, nazrjp ixkexzo^ ^X ou ^ : t an( ^ ^at 
other of the name Rebecca, which he will have to 
signify, The glory of God, ^Pefiexxa de kpfjajveuerat, 
Uewj doga.§ 

Hilary says, that Zion signifies a fruitless tree.\\ 
But Jerome informs us,^[ that Hilary, understanding 
nothing of the Hebrew, and being not so very excel- 
lent in Greek either, was glad to make use of a certain 
priest, named Heliodorus, to interpret to him out of 
Origen whatever he himself understood not; who, 
not discharging his trust sometimes so faithfully as 
he should have done, was the cause of this Father's 

* M.-itth. i. 12. Iron. 1. 2. c f M« H>id. 

,-... L 4, |] I. p. .: 

interpretatio est — Hilar. Pi, L32, 
J B ! . Ep. in, ad Maroell. 



260 THE FATHERS ARE NO AUTHORITY 

committing certain errors of this nature, in his Com- 
mentaries. 

Theophilus of Antioch says, that before Melchise- 
dec's time, the city of Jerusalem was called Hieroso- 
lyma;* but that afterwards it was called Hierusalem, 
from him ; which is a very strange fancy of his, and 
such a one as it is no very easy matter to guess what 
ground he should have for it. 

What strange dreams does Ambrose entertain his 
readers with,f when he expounds the names of Cho- 
rat, and of Oreb : the one whereof with him signifies 
the understanding , and the other, the whole heart, 
or, as the heart : and thus likewise in his exposition 
of the 118th Psalm, J where he gives us the meaning 
of each of the Hebrew letters with which the first 
verses begin, of every one of the twenty-two Octon- 
aries, whereof the said 118th Psalm, according to the 
Hebrew reckoning, consists. But he is by no means 
to be pardoned, § where he is so much out in the Greek 
tongue, which he understood, in deriving the word 
obata, essence, from dec always, and obad being: which 
is such a gross mistake as would not have been par- 
doned to a schoolboy at a grammar school. 

As for Jerome, it is true that he is sometimes guilty 
of the same fault; though I should think he does it on 
purpose, and to make himself merry only, rather than 
any way mistaking himself: as for example, when he 
derives the Latin word Nugse from the Hebrew ^13 
Noge,\\ which you read in the prophet Zephaniah, iii. 
8. And so likewise when he searches in the Hebrew, 
for the signification of Paul,^ Philemon, Onesimus, 
Timothy, and other words which are purely Greek. 

Even in the very Scriptures themselves, which 
they were both better acquainted with, and which 

* Theoph. Antioch. 1. 2. ad Autol. f Ambros. Ep. 1. 10. Ep. 82. 

\ Ambros. in Psal. 118. 

| Id. lib. de Incarn. Dom. Sacr. c. 9. 

|| Hier. in Soph on. c. 3. ver. 8. ^f Id. Comm. in ep. ad Philem. 



IN MATTERS OF RELIGION. 261 

they also had in greater veneration than any other 
books whatever, they often mistake themselves in 
citing them. As, for example, when Justin Martyr 
adduces a passage out of the prophet Zephaniah,* 
which is not found anywhere but in Zechariah; and 
in another place where he names Jeremiah instead of 
Daniel. f Thus likewise when Hilary tells us that 
Paul, in the thirteenth chapter of the Acts, adduces 
a certain passage out of the first Psalm, which yet 
is found only in the second ;J whereas Paul in that 
place speaks not one syllable of the first Psalm, but 
expressly names the second. So also when Epipha- 
nius says, out of the twenty-seventh chapter, verse 
thirty-seven, of the Acts of the Apostles, § that the 
number of those who were in the ship with Paul, 
when he suffered shipwreck, was one while seventy, 
and by and by eighty souls ; whereas the text says 
expressly, that they were in all two hundred and 
seventy-six. Thus likewise when in another place 
he affirms, out of the Gospel, that our Saviour Christ 
said to his mother, " Touch me not;" — Ouzco xac b 
XUpio$ deezagev iv zco zhayyzhto, &c. (fyaat: rrj fiTjT[)c 
auzo'j, Mf t fwj fattou:\\ whereas it appears plainly out 
of the text, that these words were spoken only to 
Mary Magdalene. So where Jerome takes great 
pains to reconcile a certain passage alleged by him 
out of Habakkuk,^" with the original, telling us that 
Paul had cited it in these words, "the just shall live 
by my faith:" whereas it is most evident that the 
Apostle, both in the first chapter of the epistle to 
the Romans, and in the epistle to the Galatians, has 
it only thus: "the just shall live by faith," and not 
" the just shall live by my faith." 

Athanasius in his Synopsis, (or whoever 'else was 

* Just M I 2. f Id. ibid. 

X Hilar, in Psal. 2. \ Ripiphan. in Ancor. 

|j LI. in Panar. 1. 3, liter. 80. \ Ilicron. Comm. 1, in Abac. 

23 



262 THE FATHERS ARE NO AUTHORITY 

the author of that piece) reckoning up the several 
books of Scriptures, evidently takes the third book 
of Esdras, which has been always accounted apocry- 
phal by the consent of all Christendom, for the first, 
which is received by all Christians and Jews into the 
canon of the Scriptures. We might class in this 
number (if at least so foolish a piece deserves to have 
any place among the writings of the Fathers) that 
gross mistake which we meet with in an epistle of 
Pope Gregory II., who rails fiercely against Uzziah 
for breaking the brazen serpent; calling him, for 
this act, " the brother of the Emperor Leo the 
Iconoclast:"* which, as he thought, was the same as 
to reckon him among the most mischievous and 
wretched princes that ever had been ; and yet all 
this while the Scripture tells us, that this was the 
act, not of Uzziah, but of the good king Hezekiah; 
and that he deserved to be rather commended for 
the same than blamed. 

As for their slips of memory, he had need of a very 
happy one himself, who should undertake to enume- 
rate them all. For example, Ambrose tells us some- 
where, that the eagle on dying is revived again out 
of her own ashes. f Who sees not, that in this place 
he would have said the phoenix? In another place, 
however, giving us an account of the story of the 
phoenix, as it is commonly delivered, he says that 
" this we have learned from the authority of the 
Scriptures. "J By a like mistake it was that he 
affirmed, that these words, a for this very purpose 
have I raised thee up, that I might show my power 
in thee,"§ were spoken to Moses; to whom, notwith- 

* Greg. II. in Ep. ad Leon. Isaur. de col. Imag. 

f Quod etiam aquila, cum fuerit mortua, ex suis reliquiis renas- 
catur. — Ambros. I. 2. de Pamit. c. 2. 

J Atqui hoc relatione crebra, et Scripturarum authoritate cog- 
novimus, memoratam avem, &c. — Id. lib. de fid. Resur. 

\ Denique iterum Moysi dicit, Quia in hoc ipsum te suscitavi, 
ut ostendam in te virtutem meam. — Ambros. ser. 10. 



IN MATTERS OF RELIGION. 2C3 

standing, the Lord never said any such word, but 
rather to Pharaoh. In like manner does he attribute 
to the Jews those words in the ninth chapter of 
John, which were indeed spoken by Christ's disciples, 
who asked him, saying, " Master, who did sin, this 
man or his parents, that he w T as born blind?"* I 
impute that other mistake of his to the heat of his 
rhetoric, where he brings in one of the seven brethren 
in the Maccabees, f who suffered under king Antio- 
chus; and makes him quote the example of John and 
of James, " the sons of thunder," two of our Saviour's 
Apostles, who came not into the world, as every one 
knows, till a long time after this. 

It was a slip of memory also in Tertullian, where 
he tells us, " that the Lord said to Moses, They have 
not rejected thee, but they have rejected me :"$ which 
words were indeed spoken to Samuel, and not to 
Moses. § 

Jerome also was misled in like manner, when he 
tells us, " that none of the Fathers ever understood 
the word knew, in the last verse of the first chapter 
of Matthew, otherwise than of the conjugal act ;|| not 
remembering, that his own dear friend Epiphanius 
takes the word in a quite different sense, and will have 
the meaning of the place to be, "that Joseph, before 
the miraculous birth of our Saviour Christ, knew not 
what glory and excellency was to befall the blessed 
virgin :" knowing nothing else of her before, save 
only that she was the daughter of Joachim, and of 
Anna, and cousin to Elizabeth, who was of the house 
of David: .///. bfjuac iy^o zv^ Mapcafib Iconic, ou 

* Q LicU autem Judsi qui interrogans Hie peccavit, an 

— Ambros. Ep. I. 9, Ep. 76. 
f Id. 1. -. >b. o.ll. 

tul. contr. Marc. 1. 1. c. 24. . 8. 

|{ In quo primam adi superfluo labore d< 

mm ad coitum magis quam ad scientiam esse referendum, 
. hoc «|uii'|Uiiiii uegaverit. — Hieron. I. contr. Helvid. 



264 THE FATHERS ARE NO AUTHORITY 

xara yvcooiv xcva ^pr/ascot;, ob xara yvayotv xocvcovca^^ 
&XX eyvco abrqv, rcfiwv TTjv ex too deou TertfJLTjfievifjV ob 
yap 'rjdsc omqv, rocauzyz do^rj<; oboav;* whereas he at 
that time knew clearly that God had done her that 
honour of sending his angel to her, and of choosing 
her to receive that great and wonderful benefit. 

But we intend not here to give an inventory of all 
the errors of this nature, which are to be found in the 
writings of the ancients ; these specimens may suffi- 
ciently serve to show what their whole productions 
are. I shall only add here, that besides this careless- 
ness which is so common with them, in writing thus 
confidently whatsoever came into mind, or whatever 
others had delivered to them for sound and good, with- 
out ever examining it thoroughly ; they yet had an- 
other kind of custom, which seems not to suit so well 
with the character of judges, which we attribute to 
them. And this is, that in their writings they some- 
times amuse themselves with presenting us such rare 
allegorical observations, as have scarcely any more 
solidity or body, than those castles of cards that little 
children are wont to make. These Cardinal Perron 
calls des gaietes joyeuses.^ 

I know very well that allegories are useful, and 
many times also necessary, if they be but sound, 
clear, and well grounded. But I speak here only of 
such as wrest the text, and, as it were, drag it along 
by the hair, and make the sense of the Scripture evap- 
orate in empty fumes. Of these are the writings of 
the Fathers full. Jerome often complains of the 
strange liberty that Origen and his disciples took here- 
in. Certainly he himself often indulges in this way ; 
and whoever has a mind to see it, may read his 146th 
Epistle, where he expounds the parable of the Prodi- 
gal Son :J or let him but turn to the discourse which 

* Epiphan. in Panar. Haer. 78. Antidicom. 

f Perron's Repl. p. 743. 

% Hier. in ep. 146, ad Damas. psene tot. 



IN MATTERS OF RELIGION. 265 

lie has made on the genealogy of the prophet Zepha- 
niah, and concerning the city of Damascus,* and 

also upon the history of Abishag the Shunamite,f and 
upon the five-and-twenty men and the two princes 
spoken of in Ezekiel, chap. xi.J and upon the destruc- 
tion of Tyre, of Egypt,§ and of Assyria, || foretold 
by the same prophet: as also his subtle obversations 
upon the Numbers, and upon king Darius, *[[ and 
upon that command of our Saviour Christ,** where 
he bids us turn the left cheek to him that hath smit- 
ten us on the right : and many other the like dis- 
courses of his. 

Hilary is so much taken with this manner of wri- 
ting, that his expositions upon the Scripture are half 
full of these allegories, ff and to make himself the more 
work, he sometimes frames certain impossibilities and 
absurdities which he would make the Scripture seem 
to be guilty of, which yet it is not ; only that he may 
have some pretence to have recourse to his allegories. JJ 
As for example, in the 136th Psalm, he will needs 
have the letter of the text to be utterly inexplicable, 
where it says, that the Jews sat down by the rivers 
of Babylon, and hanged up their harps upon the wil- 
lows: as if in this country that was watered by the 
Tigris and Euphrates, there had been neither river, 
nor willow, nor any aquatic tree. He also demands, §§ 
(as if it had been a most indissoluble question, if taken 
in the literal sense,) who the u daughter of Babylon" 
is; and why she is called "miserable;" which is so 
easy a quest on, that any child almost might very 
easily resolve it, without torturing the text with alle- 
gories. So likewise, in his exposition of the 146th 

* Hier. Com. in Soph, f Id. ep. ad V 

J Bier. Comm, ; 5. in Ezech. £ LI. Comm. 8. in Ezech. 

| LI. Comm. 9. in enndem. * Ed. Comm. in. ineund. 

** Id. Comm. in 

ff Id. Comm. 1. in Matth Jt Hilar, in Ps. L86. 

(| LI. ibid, fol, 108. 



266 THE FATHERS ARE NO AUTHORITY 

Psalm, he understands by the clouds, wherewith God 
is said to cover the heavens, the writings of the pro- 
phets; and by the rain, which he prepares for the 
earth, the evangelical doctrine ; by the mountains 
which bring forth grass, the Prophets and Apostles ; 
by the beasts, he understands men ; and by the young 
ravens, the Gentiles ; assuring us withal, that it would 
not only be erroneous, but rather very irreligious to 
take these words in a literal sense.* May not this be 
called rather trifling with than expounding the Scrip- 
tures? So likewise in another place, speaking of the 
fowls of the air, which our Saviour said neither reaped 
nor gathered into barns, he understands, by these, the 
devils; and by the lilies of the field, which spin not, 
the angels. f 

I should much abuse the reader's patience, if I 
should set down the strange discourses he has upon 
the story of the two possessed with devils, who were 
healed by our Saviour, in the country of the Gerge- 
senes ; and upon the leap which the devils made the 
neighbouring herd of swine take into the sea;| and 
of the swine-herds running away into the city, and of 
the citizens coming forth, and entreating our Saviour 
to depart out of their coasts : or if I should but give 
you the whole exposition which he has made of these 
words of Matthew x. 29: "are not two sparrows 
sold for a farthing?" &c.§ where, by the two sparrows 
he understands sinners, whose souls and bodies, which 
were created to fly upward and to mount on high, sell 
themselves to sin for mere trifles and things of no 
value; by this means becoming both as one, the soul 
by sin thickening as it were into a body; with such 
other wild fancies, the reading of which would aston- 
ish a man of any judgment rather than edify him. 

* Haec ita intelligere, non dicam erroris, sed irreligiositatis est. 
—Hilar, in Psal. 146. fol. 128. 

f Id. Can. 5. in Mattli. vi. 26. fol. 7. 

{Id. Can. 8. in Matth. viii. 28. fol. 10. § Id. Can. 10. fol. 13. 



IN MATTERS OF RELIGION. 2G7 

Neither is Ambrose a whit more serious, when ex- 
pounding those words of our Saviour, Matth. xvii. 
20 : " If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye 
shall say to this mountain, Remove hence to yonder 
place," &c* " By this mountain (saith Ambrose) is 
meant the devil." It would be too tedious a business 
to set down here at length all that might be collected 
of this nature out of Ambrose: he that has a mind to 
see more examples of this kind, may read but his 
homilies upon the 118th Psalm ; which will indeed be 
otherwise very well worth any man's reading, as 
being a very excellent one, and full of eloquence and 
sound doctrine. Yet a man would find it a trouble- 
some business to make any defence for him, where he 
ventures sometimes to use the sacred words of the 
Scripture in his own sportive fancies: as where he 
applies to Valentinian and Gratian that which is spo- 
ken of Christ and the Church in the Canticles : " 
that thou wert as my brother that sucked the breasts 
of my mother! When I should find thee without, I 
would kiss thee, &c. I would lead thee, and bring 
thee into my mother's house, &c. I would cause thee 
to drink of spiced wine, and of the juice of my pome- 
granates. His left hand should be under my head, 
and his right hand should embrace me." "In this 
place," says he, " is meant the emperor Gratian, of 
renowned memory, who tells his brother that he is 
furnished with the fruits of divers virtues. "f To the 
same purpose does he make application of divers other 
passages of this sacred Canticle; and with such great 
license, as, to say the truth, no poet ever launched out 
with more liberty and freedom than he has done in 
that book. 

* Si habueritis fidem sicut granum Binapis, dicetia huic monti, 

Tollere et jactare in marc Huic; Cui? Demonio inquit, a quo 

-. imbroa. Ifatth. xvii. 20. 

J Promittit fratri august® memorise Gratianus, presto edbi fruc- 

Liyersarun] ease vir tutum. — /'/. tract* dt Obit* VaUnt. p. 11, 12. 



268 THE FATHERS ARE NO AUTHORITY 

I shall here purposely pass by what I might pro- 
duce of this nature, out of Gregory Nazianzen, Au- 
gustine, and almost all the rest of the Fathers: for 
what we have already brought is enough, and indeed 
more than we needed for our present purpose. Let 
the reader therefore now judge whether or not the 
Fathers, by this their manner of writing, have not 
clearly enough attested against themselves, that their 
intention, when they wrote these their books, never 
was either to bound and determine our faith, or to 
decide our differences about the same. I must needs 
confess, that they were persons who were endued with 
very large gifts of the Spirit; and with a most lively 
and clear understanding for diving into the truth. 
Yet those who have the greatest share of those gifts, 
have it to very little purpose, if they employ it not to 
the utmost of their power, when the business they are 
to treat of is of such great difficulty, and importance ; 
and such as to the deciding and discussing of which 
we can never bring enough attention or diligence. 

Now that the Fathers have not observed this course 
in their writings, appears clearly enough by what has 
been formerly said. Their books therefore are "not to 
be received by us, either as definitive sentences, or final 
judgments upon our present controversies. 

I confess that these trivial errors ought not to lessen 
the opinion we have of the greatness and power of 
their minds. I believe they might very easily have 
avoided falling into them, if they would but have 
taken a little pains. And I am of opinion that they 
fell into them merely by inadvertency only ; which 
may also sometimes happen even to the greatest mas- 
ters in any sciences whatever. I shall as willingly 
also yield to you, (if you desire it,) that they have 
sometimes done these things purposely ; letting fall 
here and there throughout their writings such little 
slips from their pen, sportively and by way of recre- 
ation; or else from a design of exercising our inge- 



IN MATTERS OF RELIGION. 269 

unity. But certainly, whatever the reason was, seeing 
that they had no intention to use any more care or 
diligence in the composing of their books, we may 
very well, and indeed we ought to conclude from 
hence, that they had never any intention that these 
books of theirs should be our judges. 

These venial faults, these mistakes, these oversights, 
these inadvertencies, and these sportings of theirs, do 
sufficiently evidence, that we are to make our refer- 
ences to others; and that they have not so seriously 
delivered their opinions as if they had sat on the seat 
of judgment, but rather have spoken as in their 
chamber, delivering their own private opinions only, 
and not in the capacity of judges. 

These considerations, joined to what has been said 
in this particular, by some of the chief and most emi- 
nent among themselves, as we have formerly shown, 
make it appear in my judgment evident enough, that 
their own will and desire is, that we should not em- 
brace their opinions as oracles, or receive them as 
definitive decisions ; but that we should rather examine 
them by the Scriptures and by reason : as being the 
opinions of doctors, who were indeed very able and 
excellent men ; but yet, were still men, subject to 
error, and who were not always able to see what was 
true and sound: and who peradventure, even in this 
very case in hand, have not always done what they 
might, by reason of their employing either less time, 
or less care and diligence, than they would have done, 
if they had had any serious purpose of doing their 
utmost endeavour in this particular. 



270 THE FATHERS HAVE ERRED 



CHAPTER IV. 

Reason IV. — That the Fathers have erred in divers points of reli- 
gion; not only singly, but also many of them together. 

I conceive that what has been stated in the two pre- 
ceding chapters is sufficient to make it appear to any 
moderate man, that the authority of the Fathers in 
matters of religion is not so great as people commonly 
imagine it to be. Thou therefore, whosoever thou 
art, if thou be but an indifferent and impartial reader, 
mayest omit the reading of this and the following 
chapter; both w T hich I must add, though much against 
my will, to answer all objections that may yet be 
made by perverse and obstinate persons. For the 
prejudice wherewith they are beforehand possessed, 
may hinder them perhaps from seeing the clearness 
of reason, and from hearing the voice of the Fathers 
themselves; whose words they perhaps will be ready 
to impute to their modesty, rather than consent to 
yield to them no more honour than they themselves 
require. The pertinacity therefore of these men, and 
not any need that thou hast of my doing so, has con- 
strained me to lay aside some of that respect that I 
bear towards antiquity; and has obliged me to expose 
to view some errors of the Fathers, which are of much 
more importance than the former, if by this means at 
least I may be able to overcome their opposition. 
For when they shall but see that the Fathers have 
erred in many considerable points, I hope they will 
at length confess, that they had very good reason 
gravely to advise us, not to believe, or take upon 
trust, any of their opinions, unless we find that they 
are grounded either upon the Scriptures, or else upon 
some other truth. 

I confess, I enter upon this inquiry very unwilling- 



IN DIVERS POINTS OF RELIGION. 271 

ly, as taking very little pleasure in discovering and 
exposing the infirmities and failings of any men, es- 
pecially of such as are otherwise worthy of such great 
esteem and honour: yet there is nothing in the world, 
however precious or dear it be, that we ought not to 
disregard, if compared with truth and the edification 
of men. And I am verily persuaded that even these 
holy men themselves, were they now alive, would 
give us thanks for the pains we have taken, in en- 
deavouring to make the w T orld see that they were but 
men ; and would account themselves beholden to us, 
for having boldly undertaken the business of discover- 
ing those imperfections and failings of theirs, which 
Divine Providence has suffered them to leave behind 
them in their writings, to the end only that they 
might serve as so many arguments to us of their hu- 
manity. If there be any, notwithstanding, that shall 
take offence at it, I must entreat them once again to 
consider that the perverseness only of those men with 
whom I have to deal, has forced me to this irrever- 
ence, (if we are to call it so) together with the desire 
I have to manifest to the world so important a truth 
as tlws is. 

If I wished to defend myself by precedents, I could 
here make use of that of cardinal Perron;* who, to 
justify the Church of Rome's interdicting the reading 
of the Bible to any of the laity, except only such as 
should have express permission, scruples not to ex- 
pose to the view of the world, not all the faults, for 
there are none; but all the false appearances of faults 
that are found in the Bible, writing a whole chapter 
expressly on the subject. How much more lawfully 
then may we adventure here to expose to public view 
Le few of the failings of the Fathers, to whom we 
owe infinitely less respect than to God; if it be only 
to moderate a little that excessive devotion which 

* Du Perron, Repliq. 1. 6, c. 6, p. 



272 THE FATHERS HAVE ERRED 

most men bear towards their writings; that so the 
one party may be persuaded to seek out for some 
other weapons, than the authority of these men, for 
the defence of their opinions; and that the other party 
may not so easily be induced to regard the bare tes- 
timony of antiquity? 

It was the saying of a great prince long ago, that 
the vilest and most shameful necessities of his nature, 
were the things that most clearly convinced him that 
he was a man, and no God, as his flattering courtiers 
would needs have made him believe he was. Seeing 
therefore that it behoves us so much to know that the 
Fathers were but men, let us not be afraid to pro- 
duce here this argument so clear and evident of their 
humanity. Let us boldly enter into their most hid- 
den secrets, and let us see whatever marks of their 
humanity they have left us in their writings, that we 
may no longer adore their authority, as if it were 
divine. 

Yet I protest here before I begin, that I will not 
take any advantage of the many proofs of their 
human passions which we meet with, partly in their 
own writings, and partly in the histories of their life. 
I wish rather, that all of this kind might be buried 
in an eternal oblivion, and that we would speak of 
them as of persons that were most accomplished for 
purity and innocence of life, as far, at least, as the 
frail condition of human nature can bear. I shall 
only touch upon the errors of their belief, and those 
things wherein they have failed, not in living but in 
writing. 

The most ancient of them all is Justin Martyr; a 
man renowned in all ancient histories for his great, 
knowledge, both in religion and philosophy; and also 
for the fervency of his zeal, which he so evidently 
manifested, by his suffering a glorious martyrdom 
for our Saviour Jesus Christ. Yet for all this, how 
many opinions do we meet with in his books, which 



IN DIVERS FOINTS OF RELIGION. 273 

are either very trivial, or else manifestly false? Only 
hear bow he speaks of the last times immediately 
preceding the clay of judgment and the end of the 
world: — "As for me (says he) and the rest of us 
that are true Christians, we know that there shall be 
a resurrection of the flesh, and that the saints shall 
spend a thousand years in Jerusalem, which shall be 
rebuilt, enriched, and enlarged, as the prophets 
Ezekiel, Isaiah, and others assure us. ^ Eyuj as yju el 
rtvec ilatv dpOofvcDfiovez xaza naura Xpiaxtavoty xcu 
aapxoc aucurrcuJiv yvy^aiaOat IntOTap&fta yju yjha 
lz/ t h c hoo'jaa/^a ur/oao/iTjOecajj^ xcu xoGfiydseGfl xcu 

To this purpose he cites what is written, Isaiah 
lxv., and besides, that other passage in the Revela- 
tion, where it is said, "That those which had believed 
in Christ, should live and reign with him a thousand 
years in Jerusalem; and that after this there should 
be a general and final resurrection and judg- 
ment." Xcha ezrj noaja&v ev ^ hpouaulr t u rous tco 
ij/tevepo) Xpearw maxeooavxa^ &c. ; yju pteza T<wra 9 
XTjh xadokxfjV) yju awzkovxt coy at, ouovkvj bpodufjtadop 
ay.'L TravTcav d-vaxrca/Jtv yevqaeadcu^ yju xptotv.\ In 
these words you see plainly that he holds with the 
Millennarians, that the saints shall reign a thousand 

ira in Jerusalem, before the resurrection be per- 
fectly accomplished: which is an opinion that is at 
this day condemned as erroneous, by the whole Wes- 
tern Church, both on the one side and on the other. 
He seems, in another place, to have held that the 

'■nee of God was finite, and was not present in all 
places; where he endeavours to prove against a Jew 
that it was not the Father who rained fire and brim- 

ne upon Sodom, because that he could not then 
have been at that time in heaven. I'-z? lav yj i o>)zu) 

r j<jo)fjiei> -<!.; ypaxpaz fj'j'f^aizfj.i r^> naxspa xcu xupcov 

* Justin, contr. Tryph. p. 307. t H* P« : 

24 ' 



^274 THE FATHERS HAVE ERRED 

zcov blcov prj yvfzvTjOdai zoze iv zoc; obpavotQ, bze oca 
mwaeax; AeAsxzac, xac KopcoQ iftpegsp inc 1'odopa, &c* 

That which he has delivered concerning the angels 
is altogether as senseless, though not so dangerous; 
namely, "That God having in the beginning corn- 
nutted to them the care and providence over men, 
and all sublunary things, they had broken this order, 
by suffering themselves to be overcome by the love of 
women, by associating with whom had been also born 
children, which are those we now call demons, or 
devils. 1 ' TtjV pev zcov dvdpcoTcwv, xac zo)v bno zov 
ohpavov rcpovocav dyysAocz, oh; ijrc zoozoc; erafe, 
napeSwxev 01 de tiyyeloc napaftavze; zrjvde ztjv za^cv, 
yovaxxcov pc^cocv fjzzrjdrjoav, xac nacda; irexvcoaav, ol 
elacv ol Xeyopevoc Aacpove;^ 

I know not either whether Justin will be able easily 
to convert any one to that other opinion of his, where 
he says that " all the souls of the saints, and of the 
prophets, had fallen under the power of evil spirits, 
such as were the spirits of Python ; and that this 
was the reason why our Saviour Christ, being ready 
to give up the ghost, recommended his spirit to 
God:" (Pacvezac de xac bzc naaac al (po%ac zoov obzco; 
ocxactov, xac npocprjzcov, uno e^ooacav Itictzzov zwv 

zocoozcov dovapewv, &c Kac yap dnodcdoo; zo 

Tzveupa inc zco azaopco, sine, Ilazep, ec; yecpa.; (too 
Ttapazcdepac zo Tiveopa poo :% I pray you tell me, out 
of what part of God's word he learned this doctrine, 
which he delivers in his second Apology ; where he 
says, "that all those who lived according to the rule 
of reason were Christians, notwithstanding that they 
might have been accounted as Atheists; such as 
among the Greeks were Socrates, Heraclitus, and 
the like; and among the Barbarians, Abraham and 
Asanas." Kai ol peza Aoyoo ficaxiavze; Xpcozcavoc 

* Justin contr. Tryph. p. 283 et 357. 

f Id. in Apol. pro Christ, ad Senat. p. 44. 

% 1(1. contr. Tryph. p. 333. 



IX DIVERS POINTS OF RELIGION. 

$l<nv yjVs ddeoc ivofjuffOytraw olov iv ^EXfajat t asu 
2a)xpazr)d xai c HpaxXsczoc xcu ol bfiotot abzoe^* iv 
ftaj /j/.y., &c* He repents the same 

doctrine within a few lines afterwards, and says that 
" all those who lived, or do now live, according to 
the rule of reason, are Christians, and are in an 
assured, quiet condition." 01 8s /isza boyou ftuoaavzez 
xcu Jto'j^zzz, Xptaxtavot) xcu dfoftoe, xcu dvapayot 
uzayy<)'j(7:.j 

Irena^us, bishop of Lyons, who lived very near 
Justin's time, was also of the same opinion with him, 
as to the state of the soul after it was once departed 
from the body, till the hour of judgment. For, to- 
wards the conclusion of that excellent book of his, 
which he wrote against Heresies, after he has told us 
that our Saviour Christ had descended into hell, or 
the place of departed spirits, which place he opposes 
to the light of this world, he further adds, that " It is 
evident that the souls of the disciples of our Saviour, 
for the love of whom he did all these things, shall go 
also into a certain invisible place, which is provided 
for them by God, there to expect the resurrection ; 
and shall afterwards resume their bodies, and ba 
raised up again in all perfection; that is to say, cor- 
poreally, in the same manner as our Saviour was 
raised up again, and so shall they come into the pre- 
sence of God."§ This opinion he opposes against 
that of the Valentinians and Gnostics, which he had 
before produced in the beginnng of that chapter of 
his, who held that the souls of men, immediately a: 
they had departed out of the body, were carried up 
above the heavens and the Creator of the world; and 
went to that Mother or that Father which these here- 

t 1 1 
jus, pr pterqa - 
e abibant in Lnvisibil >m ]<><-uin. d< 
turn mmorabuntar, 

. B i c. - ( J. 



276 THE FATHERS HAVE EEREB 

tics had fancied to themselves. This opinion of theirs 
is in like manner rejected by Justin Martyr, in the 
passage a little before quoted out of his book against 
Tryphon.* Whence it plainly appears (that we may 
not trouble ourselves to produce any other proofs) 
that Justin and Irenseus were both of the same belief 
as to the state of the soul after death. 

But to return to Irenseus. In his second book 
against Heretics, he maintains very strongly, that 
"our Saviour Christ was above forty years of age, 
when he suffered death for us:"f alleging in defence 
of this opinion of his, which so manifestly contradicts 
the evangelical history, certain probabilities only ; as, 
" that our Saviour passed through all ages, as having 
come to the world to sanctify and save people of all 
ages;" urging also those words of the Jews to our 
Saviour, u thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast 
thou seen Abraham?"! In conclusion he says that 
" St. John had delivered it by tradition, to the priests 
of Asia, that Christ was somewhat aged when he be- 
gan to preach, being then about the age of forty or 
fifty years." This fancy of his appeared so ridiculous 
to cardinal Baronius, that (notwithstanding the faith 
of all the copies of his Father, and the context, which 
appears evidently to be his, together with the vein 
and marks of his fancy and style,) he has had the 
confidence to say, that this whole passage had been 
foisted into the text of Irenasus, either by some igno- 
rant or some malicious person, and that it was not 
Irenseus's own.§ But it seems he had no great reason 
for his suspicion ; as the Jesuit Petavius has clearly 
made it appear in his notes upon Epiphanius.|| 

However, you may hence perceive that Baronius 
thinks that very possible which we have endeavoured 

* Justin, contra Tryph. p. 307. 

i Iren. cont. Hrer. 1. 2. c. 39. J John viii. 57. 

$ Baron. Annal. t. 1. an. 34. num. 137. 

|) Pctav. in Epiplian. p. 145. 



IN DIVERS POINTS OF RELIGION. 277 

to prove in the former part of this treatise; namely, 
th.it there may possibly have been very many and 
great alterations and corruptions in the books of the 
writers of the first ages, by many passages and clauses 
having been either inserted in them, or else malicious- 
ly erased out of them. 

Irenseus holds and endeavours to prove in the same 
book, " that the souls of men, after death, retain the 
character (that is to say, the figure) of the bodies to 
which they were formerly united, and that they re- 
present the shape of the said bodies, so that they can 
be recognized."* 

I shall here pass by that which Irenseus seems to 
mean in the forty-ninth chapter of the same book, 
that our Saviour Christ did not at all know when the 
day of judgment should be, according to either of his 
natures; although these words of his look as if they 
would very hardly be reconciled to any good meaning. 
Nor shall I yet take notice of what both he and Jus- 
tin Martyr have in divers places so rashly averred, as 
regards the strength of human nature, in the busi- 
ness of salvation ;| because I conceive with Cassan- 
der,t that all those passages may, and indeed ought 
to be understoo 1, with respect to the scope and drift 
of these authors; whose business was to confute those 
heretics of their time, who maintained that there w 18 
a fatal necessity in the actions of men, by this 
means depriving them of all maimer of election or 
judgment. 

The great learning of Clemens Alexandrinus lias 

not prevented him from falling into many error-: as 

for instance, where in divers places he says plainly, 

.at the heathen, who lived before the coming of 

* A i, in quo etiam adaptantur 

i : i ■ i ii 
' // '. . 6 ' 

Pii Viri. 
2 I 



278 THE FATHERS HAVE ERRED 

our Saviour Christ, were justified by philosophy, 
which was then necessary for them, whereas it is 
now only useful to them ; and that this philosophy 
was the schoolmaster of the Gentiles, which brought 
them to Christ, or served to guide them till the time 
of his coming, in like manner as the law did the 
Jews ; and that the Greeks were justified by it alone ; 
and that it was given to them as their covenant, be- 
ing a step to, and as it were a foundation laid for, 
Christian philosophy. ' Hv peu obv Ttpo tyjz too 
Kopcoo TcapooGtac, etQ bcxacoaovrjv ^EXXtjocv avajxaca 
(fcXocrocpca, vuv de XPV^f 17 ! 7r / 00 C Osooefiecav ytverac. . . . 
5 Ercacdaycoyec jap xac abzvj zo ^EXXtjvcxov, a>£ b voptoQ 
tou<; ^Eftpacouz ere Xpcozov. Clem. Alex. Strom, 
lib. 1. Kaff kaoTfjv idcxacoo noze xac fj cpcXoaoipca 
touq ^EXXrjva^. Ibid. p. 117. Trjv de (pcXoao<pcav xac 
paXXov ^EXXtjGcv olov deadly olxecav, abzocq, dedoadac, 
uTzoftadpeav oboav ttjq xaza Xpcazov (pcXoaocpca^,- — Id. 
lib. 6, Strom, p. 279. 

Clemens was of opinion also, "that our Saviour 
went down into hell, to preach the gospel to the de- 
parted souls;" and that he saved many of them ; that 
is, all that believed: "and that the Apostles also, 
after their death, descended likewise into the same 
place, and for the same purpose;" conceiving that 
God otherwise would have been unjust and an accep- 
tor of persons, if he had condemned all those who 
died before the coming of his Son. " For (says he) 
if he preached to the living to the end they might 
not be condemned unjustly ; why should he not, for 
the same reason, preach also to those who were 
departed this life before his coming? Kadarcep 
5 IoodaiOD<z aco^eadac iftouXezo 6 #eo£, tooq 7Tpo<prjzaQ 
dcdooQ, outo)q xac ^EXXrjvcDv tooq doxcpa)zazoo<;^ ocxecoo^ 
abzwv tyj dcaXexro) npo<prjzaQ dvaazYjaaz. Id. p. 268. 
c # Kupcoc, ebvjyyeXcaazo xac zocz ev kdoo, &c. Id. 
Strom, lib. 6, p. 269. Kac ol AtzogtoXoc xadanep 
ivzauda, ouzcoq xdxec (in inferis) zoix; zcov edvcov 



IN DIVERS POINTS OF RELIGION. 279 

rqdecooc e/c lm<npo<py}V sbrjyzhaavzo. Clem. Alex. 
Strom, lib. 6, p. 267. 'IrjaooQ 8e zoevuv zone, iv aapxt 
Sea zo'jzo s'jrjyucadzo, \va fzq xazadcxaadaxjcv ddtxax?* 

77(oz OOP zo'jc. 71 0O£Eefa]Xu6oTa$ zTjC. tjwo\)(ic(lz auzou oca 
vqy auTTjh i'jrjyshauzo aiuau. — Ibid. p. 271. 

From these and the like considerations, Clemens 
concludes, that it was necessary that the souls of all 
the departed, Gentiles as well as Jews, should have 
heard the preaching of our Saviour, "and should 
have had the benefit of the same dispensation, which 
he used towards others upon earth, in order either to 
their salvation, through repentance, or their just con- 
demnation for their impenitency.' , Tt ohv obyt xou 
iv adoo 'fj ahzrj yzyovzv oixovofua, \va xdxec Tiaoai al 
<!")'/ ac d.xo'joaaox wjzou xrrfvryfw.zoz., vj vqu fizzavoiav 
i^os^ojiza.', i t zr^j xolaatv ocxacav eivac, oc d>v oux 
huoxooaay^ oaoLoy^acoatv.^ 

He plainly maintains also, in several places of his 
works, that all the punishments, which God inflicts 
upon men tend to their salvation, and are sent them 
for their instruction and amendment; comprehending 
also within this number even those very pains which 
the damned endure in hell. Hence it is, that he some- 
where also affirms that wicked men are to be purged 
by fire; and to this docs he refer the conflagration, 
spoken of by the Stoics; alleging also to this purpose 
divers passages out of Plato, and out of a certain phi- 
losopher of Ephesus, which I conceive to be Ilera- 
clitu3;t from all of which it clearly appears that he 
bad the same belief as to the pains in hell that his 
scholar Origen had, who maintains, in an infinite 
number of places in his works, that the pains of hell 
arc purgative only, and consequently are not eternal, 
but are to have an end, when the souls of the damned 
are once thoroughly cleansed and purified by this fire. 
lie believes also, with Justin Martyr, that the angels 

« Clem. Alex. Strom, lib. G, p. 270. f ld - Strom. 1. 5, p. 227. 



280 THE FATHERS HAVE ERRED 

fell in love with the first women, and that this love of 
theirs transported them so far, as to make them in- 
discreetly to discover to them many secrets which 
they ought to have concealed: — 01 dfjeXoc ixztvot ol 
tqv avco xfajpov scfy%OTe<z, xadoXccFdrjaavTeq eiq fjdouaq^ 
igStTTov ra drcopp'/jva tcuq yuvcu^cv, &c* 

Clemens, quite contrary to Irenseus, who maintains 
that our Saviour Christ lived upon the earth to the age 
of fiftyf years, will have him to have preached in the 
flesh but one year only, and to have died in the thirty- 
first year of his age — Outco Tzkqpouzai ra rpcaxovra emj 
!a>c ou iirade.'l 

But since it is confessed by both parties, that there 
are many absurd tenets in this author, I shall not 
dwell any longer upon him. 

As for Tertullian, I confess the fact of his turning 
Montanist has taken away very much of the repute 
which he before had in the Church, both for the fer- 
vency of his piety and for his incomparable learning. 
But besides that a part of his works were written 
while he was yet a Catholic, we are also to notice, 
that his Montanism put no separation between him 
and other Christians, except in point of discipline, 
which he, according to the austerity of his nature, 
chose to be most harsh and rigorous. As for his 
doctrine, he often declares that he constantly kept 
to the very same rule, and the same faith that the 
Catholics did :§ whence proceeded that tart speech 
of his, " That people rejected Montanus, Maximilla, 
and Priscilla, not because they had anywhat departed 
from the rule of faith, but rather because they would 
have us to fast oftener than to marry. "|| And this is 

* Clem. Alex. Strom, lib. 5. p. 227. 

f [The Latin copy of Daille has forty, the French fifty. — Am. Ed.] 
j Clem. Alex. Strom, p. 127. 

\ Vid. lib. de Mon. cap. 2, &c. et 1. contr. Psych, cap. 1. 
|| Si paracleto controversial faciunt propter hoc, prophetise novas 
recusantur, non quod alium Deum predicant Montanus, et Pris- 



IN DIVERS TOINTS OF RELIGION. 281 

evident enough, from all those books which were 
written by him, during the time of his being a Mon- 
tanist; wherein he never disputes or contends about 
anything, except about discipline. This is ingenu- 
ously confessed also, by the learned Rigault, in his 
preface to those nine books which he has lately pub- 
lished.* 

Now, notwithstanding the great repute which this 
Father had in the Church, and his not departing from 
it in anything, in point of faith; yet how many wild 
opinions and fancies do we meet with in his books ! 
I shall here speak only of some of the principal of 
them, passing by his dangerous expressions on the 
person of the Son of God, as having touched upon 
this particular before. But how strange is his manner 
of discourse on the nature of God,f whom he seems 
to render subject to the like passions with us; as to 
anger, hatred, and grief! He attributes also to him 
a corporeal substance, and "does not believe (as he 
says) that any man will deny that God is a body;";}; 
so that we need wonder the less that he so confidently 
afiirms, "that there is no substance which is not 
corporeal :"§ or that, with Justin Martyr and Clemens 
Alexandrinus, he attributes to the evangelical nature 
the carnal love of women :|| w T hich occasioned those 
words in that book of his, " De Virginibus Velan- 
cZ/.s'," — where he says, "that it is necessary that so 



cilia, ct Maximilla. &c, sod qudd pland doceant sacpius jejunare, 
qnam irabere. — I<L contr. Psych, c. 10. 

Nicol. Rigaltius Prolog, in animad. ad Tertul. 9. Tract. Lutet 

t Tertul. 1. 1, adv. Marc. c. 25, et 1. 2, c. 16. 
j Q : r, Deum cor] spiritna est? — Id. adv. 

'. 2, contra, M<'rr. e, 16. 
substantia corpus >\t cujusque. — P>. lib, adv. Hi rmog. 

An- illos desertores Dei, amatores fosminarum. — Id, l. 



282 THE FATHERS HAVE ERRED 

dangerous a face should be veiled, which had scan- 
dalized even heaven itself."* 

We need not, after this, wonder at his doctrine on 
the nature of man's soul, which he will have to be 
corporeal, and endued with form and figure, and to 
be propagated, and derived from the substance of the 
father, to the body of the son, and sowed and engen- 
dered with the body, increasing and extending itself 
together with it;f and many other the like dreams; 
in the maintaining of which he uses so much subtlety, 
force, and eloquence, that you will through the whole 
range of antiquity, scarce meet with a more excellent 
and more elegant piece than this book of his, Be Ani- 
ma. He also, with Irenaeus, shuts up the souls of 
men, after they are departed this life, in a certain 
subterraneous place, where they are to remain till the 
day of judgment; the heavens not being to be opened 
to any of the faithful till the end of the world : only 
he allows the martyrs their entrance into Paradise, 
which he fancies to be some place beneath the hea- 
vens; and here he will have them continue till the 
last day. "It is thy blood (says he) which is the only 
key of Paradise. "J And this place, whither the souls 
of the departed go, is, according to him, to continue 
shut up till the end of the world. He is besides of a 
contrary opinion to that of Justin Martyr, spoken of 
before; and maintains that all apparitions of the de- 
ceased are mere illusions and deceits of the. devil; 
and that this inclosure of the souls of men shall con- 
tinue till such time as the city of the New Jerusalem, 
which is to be all of precious stones, shall descend 

* Debet et adumbrari facies tarn periculosa, quae usque ad coelum 
scandala jaculata est. — Id.de Virg. V eland, cap. 7. 

f Defminius animum dici statu naturani immortalem, corpora- 
lem, effigiatam, &c, et una redundantem, &c. — Ibid. lib. de. Anim. 
passim: nominatim c. 22. 

\ Quo (in inferis) spes omnis sequestrator, tota Paradisi clavis 
sanguis tuus est. Nulli patet coelum, terra adliuc salva, ne dixe- 
rini clausa. — Id. lib. de an. c. 55, 66, 57, 58. 



IN DIVERS POINTS OF RELIGION. 283 

miraculously from heaven upon the earth, and shall 
there continue a thousand years, the saints long living 
therein in very great glory; and that during this 
space the resurrection of the faithful is to be accom- 
plished by degrees; some of them rising up sooner, 
and some later, according to the difference of their 
merits.* Hence we are to interpret what he says in 
another place, "that small sins shall be punished in 
men by the lateness of their resurrection :"f and, 
" that when the thousand years are expired, and the 
destruction of the world, and the conflagration of the 
day of judgment is passed, we shall all be changed in 
a moment into the nature of angels. "J 

I pass by his invectives against second marriages, 
and also his opinion against all marriage in general; 
these fancies being a part of the discipline of Mon- 
tanus's Paraclete. But as to his opinions on the bap- 
tism of heretics, he has many fellows among the 
Catholic Fathers, who held the same; namely, that 
their baptism signified nothing: and therefore he never 
received any heretic into the communion of the Ca- 
tholic Church, without first rebaptizing him — " cleans- 
ing him (says he) both in the one and in the other 
man; that is to say, both in body and soul, by the 
baptism of the truth, accounting an heretic to be in 
the same, or rather in a worse, condition than any 
pagan. "§ As to others, he is so far from pressing 

Nam et confitemUr in terra nobis regnum repromissum post 

n in mille annos in civitate divini operis, Hierusalem 

delata, &c. inter quam eetatem (1000 annorum) concluditur 

itorum resurrectio, pro mentis maturius, vcl tardius resurgen- 

tiuni. — Id. lib. adv. Marc. e. 24. 

Modicum quoque delictum mora resurrectionis ilHc luendum. 
— Id. I. de. An. c. I 

+ P - mille annos, &c7, tunc et mundi destructione, ot 

. demutari in atomo in angelicam 
stantiam; - per illnd incorruptionis Buperindumentum 

I sferemnr id coeleste regnum, &c. — Id. lib. adv. Marc. c. 29. 

at ethnico par, imo et super ethnicum I Bereticnfi etiam 
aptisma veritatie utroque homine purgatus admittitur. — Tertul. 
I. de Bapt. adv. Quint, c. 16.; et de Pudic. c. 19. 



284 THE FATHERS HAVE ERRED 

men to the baptizing of their children while they are 
young, which yet is the custom of these times; that 
he allows, and indeed persuades to the contrary; not 
only in children, but even in persons of riper years ; 
counselling them to defer it, every man according to 
his condition, disposition, and age.* And as his opin- 
ion, in this particular, is not much different from that 
of the Anabaptists of our time ; so does he not much 
dissent from them in some other matters. For he will 
not allow, no more than they do, that a Christian 
should take upon him or execute any office of judica- 
ture, or "that he should condemn, or bind, or impri- 
son, or torture any man;" or that he should make 
war upon any, or serve in war under any other; say- 
ing. expressly, "that our Saviour Christ, by disarming 
Peter, hath from henceforth taken off every soldier's 
belt: xf which is as much as to say, that the discipline 
of Christ allows not of the profession of soldiery. 
From which I cannot but wonder at the confidence (or 
rather the inadvertency) of some who would persuade 
us, from a certain passage of this author, J which them- 
selves have very much mistaken, that this innocent 
and peaceable Father maintained, that heretics are to 
be punished, and to be suppressed by inflicting on 
them temporal punishments: which rigorous proceed- 
ing was as far from his thoughts as heaven is from 
earth. 

I shall add here, before I proceed further, that Ter- 
tullian held that our Saviour Christ suffered death in 



* Itaque pro cujusque personae conditione, ac dispositione, etiam 
setate cunctatio baptismi utilior est, &c. — Id. I. de Baptism, cap. 18. 

j- Jam verb quae sunt potestatis, neque judicet de capite alicujus, 
vel pudore, (feras enim de pecunia,) neque damnet, neque praedam- 
net, neminem vinciat, neminem recludat, aut torqueat, &c. omnera 
postea militem Dominus in Petro exarmando discinxit. — Id. lib. de 
Idol. c. 17. el 19, $c. et lib. 1, de Cor. Mil. c. 11. 

X Pamel, in Scap. Tertul. c. 2. num. 15. et in 1. ad Scap. c. 2, 
num. 7. 



IN DIVERS TOINTS OF RELIGION. 285 

the thirtieth year of his age,"* which is manifestly 
contrary to the Gospel. He thought also that the 
heavenly grace and prophecy ceased in John the Bap- 
tist, f after the fulness of the Spirit was transferred 

to our Saviour Christ. 

Cyprian, who was Tertullian's very great admirer, 
calling him absolutely, the master, and who never let 
any day pass over his head without reading something 
of him, J has confidently maintained some of the afore- 
said opinions; among others that of the nullity of 
baptism by heretics, which he defends everywhere 
very strongly, having also the most eminent men of 
his time consenting with him in this point; asFirmili- 
anus, metropolitan of Cappadocia,§ Dionysius, bishop 
of Alexandria, || together with the councils of Africa, 
Cappadocia, Paraphilia, and Bithynia, notwithstand- 
ing all the anger and the excommunication also of 
Stephen, bishop of Rome, who for his own part held 
a particular opinion of his own, allowing the baptism 
of all kinds of heretics, without re-baptizing any of 
them; as it appears by the beginning of the 74th 
epistle of St. Cyprian ;^f whereas the Church, about 
sixty-five years after, at the council of Nice declared 
null the baptism of the Samosatenians, permitting, as 
it seems, all other heretics whatsoever to be received 
into the Church without being re-baptized. Ilepe 
7(0^ IlauAcaveaavTWVj xcu 7zooa(f'jyo^zco^ ztj xadoAcx/j 



* Christus annos habena quasi triginta cum paterctur, &c. — Ter- 
f ap. 8. 

. 10. 
£ Vi<li e;_ r '> quondam Paulum, &c. qui Be B. Cypriani, &c. Nota- 
diceret, referrique sibi Bolitum, nunquam 
Tertulliani lectione unum diem profc 

gistrum, Tertullianum videlicet signifi- 

IFirmiL Bp. 7">. inter, r 
' , ■ Be 

25 



286 THE FATHERS HAVE ERRED 

ixxtyGca' bpot; ixnd^rac avaftanrc^eadac aozut; i^anav- 
roc.* 

The Fathers of the second general council went yet 
further, re-baptizing all those just as they would have 
done Pagans, who came in from the communion either 
of the Eunomians, Montanists, Phrygians, or Sabel- 
lians ; or indeed any other heretics whatsoever, ex- 
cept the Arians, Macedonians, Sabbatians, Nova- 
tians, Quartodecimani, and Apollinarians; all which 
they received without re-baptization, as you may see 
in the Greek copies of the said council, canon seventh; 
which canon also appears in the Greek code of the 
Church Universal, Num. 170. 

Thus you see that Stephen and Cyprian maintained 
each of them their own particular opinion in this 
point; the one of them admitting, and the other utterly 
rejecting the baptism of all kinds of heretics : whereas 
the two aforenamed general councils neither admitted 
nor rejected, save only the baptism of certain- heretics 
only. Cyprian however seems to have dealt herein 
much more fairly than his adversary; seeing that he 
patiently endured those who were of the contrary 
opinion ;f as it appears clearly by the Synod of Car- 
thage, and as it is also proved by Jerome :J whereas 
Stephen, according to his own hot choleric temper, 
declared publicly against Firmilianus's opinion, § and 
excommunicated all those that differed from himself. || 

The same blessed martyr of our Saviour Jesus 
Christ was also carried away with that error of his 
time, on the necessity of administering the sacrament 

* Con. Nic. Can. 19. — Si quis ergo a quacnnque harresi venerit 
ad nos, nihil innovetur, nisi quod traditum est, ut manus illi impo- 
natur ad poenitentiani, &c. — Cypr. ep. 74. init. ubi referuntur hcee 
Slephani verba. 

-j- Neminem judic antes, aut a jure communionis aliquem, si diver- 
sum senserit, amoventes. — Cypr. Free. Cone. Carth. 

% Hier. contra Lucifer, t. 2, p. 197, &c. 

| Firmil. ep. ad Cypr. quae est 75, inter, ep. Cypr. p. 204. 

|| Cypr. ep. 74, p. 194, et ep. 75, quae est Firmil. 



IN DIVERS POINTS OF RELIGION. 287 

of the holy eucharist to all persons when they were 
baptized, and even to infants also; as appears by his 
69th epistle,* where, by the suffrages of sixty-five 
other bishops, he admits infants to baptism and the 
Lord's Supper, as soon as they were born; contrary 
to the opinion of one Fidus, who would not admit 
them to these sacraments till the eighth day after they 
were born: — and also by that story of his which he 
tells us of a certain young girl, w r ho being not as yet 
of years to speak, by a remarkable miracle put back 
the liquor which had been consecrated for the blood 
of our Saviour, and was presented to her by a deacon 
to drink in the church; as judging herself unworthy 
to receive it, by reason that not long before she had 
been carried to the celebration of some certain pagan 
sacrifices. 

Now the original of this error of theirs was the 
belief they had, that the eucharist was as necessary to 
salvation as baptism; as may easily be collected out 
of the words of the said author. Having first laid it 
down as the groundwork, "that no man can come 
into the kingdom of God, unless he be baptized and 
regenerated:"! he produces for a proof hereof, first 
that passage out of the third chapter of John, where 
it is said, " except a man be born of water and of the 
Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God," &c. : 
and again, " except ye eat the flesh of the Son of 
man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you:" 
urging the first of these texts to prove the necessity 
of baptism, and the other, of the eucharist; accounting 
each of them necessary to regeneration. Hence, it is 
that we find him speaking so often of being "born 
again, by virtue of the one and of the other sacra- 

* Ut intra octavam 'liem etun qui natua esl baptizandniDj et bh- 

ni'lum Hon putares. — Cypr. L37. 

\'i regnum Dei nisi baptizatus, el renatus quia fuerit, perve- 
nire non j Joan. — Id. I. 80. Qucest. 

Quir. 



288 THE FATHERS HAVE ERRED 

merit," by which words he does not mean baptism 
and confirmation (as some would persuade us,) but 
rather baptism and the Lord's supper, as is evident 
from the following words; "It is to very little pur- 
pose to be baptized, and to partake of the holy eucha- 
rist, unless a man proceed in the good works," &c* 

I shall here pass by some words, which he has some- 
times let fall on the baptism of heretics,f from which 
he seems to make the efficacy of the sacrament de- 
pend upon the integrity and sanctity of the person 
who administers it. 

We shall proceed, in the next place, to speak of 
Origen; but since there have been some since his 
time, who have very much decried both him and his 
doctrine, and others again on the other side who have 
as strongly defended him, we shall forbear to say any 
thing of him that may engage us in a tedious discus- 
sion : we shall only observe, from this example of his, 
that neither the antiquity, nor the learning or holy 
life of any man necessarily prevents him falling into 
very strange and gross errors. For Origen was one 
of the most ancient among the Fathers, having lived 
about the middle of the third century; and having 
been so eminent for those two other excellencies of 
virtue and learning, that his fiercest adversaries can- 
not deny that he possessed them both in a very high 
degree. Neither ought the story of his fall, related 
by Bpiphanius,| to disparage the reputation of his 
virtue; for though perhaps it might have been true, 
yet has it frequently happened to others of the faith- 
ful to fall into great temptations, as appears evi- 
dently enough from the example of the apostle Peter 
himself. 

* Parum esse baptizari et eucharistiam accipere, nisi quis factis 
et opere proficiat, al. perficiat. — Cypr. I. 30. c. 26. 

f Quanclonec oblatio sanctifieare illic possit, ubi Spiritus Sanctus 
non sit, nee cuiquam Dominus per ejus orationes et preces prosit, 
qui Dominum ipse violavit. — Id. ep. 63. 

% Epiphan. 64. Hser. quae est Orig. 



IN DIVERS POINTS OF RELIGION. 280 

But that I may not dissemble, I profess myself 
much inclined to be of cardinal Baronius's opinion;* 
who thinks this story to be an arrant fable, mali- 
ciously devised by those who envied the fame of this 
great and admirable man, and that it was foisted into 
Epiphanius by some such hand; or else (as I rather 
believe,) was accredited by himself, and foisted into 
that book of his without any further examination, as 
many other things have been; in the relating of 
which this Father has shown himself a little over-cre- 
dulous, as is truly observed by his last interpreter. f 

Yet Origcn, notwithstanding all those excellent 
gifts of his, has not hesitated to broach very many 
opinions, which by reason of their absurdity have 
been utterly rejected (and very deservedly so) by the 
Church in all succeeding ages: which is an evident 
argument, that however ancient, learned, and holy an 
author may have been, we ought % not at once to be-- 
lieve him, and to urge him as infallible: since there 
is no reason in the world why the same thing which 
has befallen Origen in so many points, may not in 
some or other have also happened to any other au- 
thor. But of this I am very well assured that those 
very men who have written against Origen, have not 
been so thoroughly happy in their undertaking; but 
while opposing some error of his, have sometimes 
fallen into as great a one of their own. One of them 
for example, Methodius by name, as he is cited by 
Epiphanius, maintains, that after the resurrection and 
final judgment, we shall dwell for ever upon earth, 
leading there a holy, blessed, and everlasting life, 
exercising ourselves in all good things, as the angels 
do in heaven. He also, as well as the rest, repre- 
sents the angels as addicted to the love of women; 
and he will have God's providence to extend itself 

* Baron. Annal. n<l An. 253, num. 120, 122. 
f Petav. Nut. ad Btor. 66, p. 217. 

25" 



290 THE FATHERS HAVE ERRED 

only to universal causes, affirming that he has 
committed the care of particular things to the 
angels. Tapay^drjoeodat pev yap ttjv xtiglv, ob prjv 
dnoXeccrdac TTpoodoxrjzeov, otzwq dvaxacvonorrjdevreQ iv 
avazacvoTcocrjdsvTt xoapco dysuaroc Xotzyjs xarotxTjOcopev. 
. . . ^Q creep xac ol para raura aapxcov ipaadevrez, 
xac rate, zcov dvdpomcov £i£ tptXoxocrcav bpdrjaavre^ 
doyarpaacv. . . . C JW rqv pev navzeXcxrjv xac yevercx'rjv 
kycov 6 deot; zcov hXcov izpovotav, rrjv de dca pepooq ol 
£7cc toot co raydevze^ dyyeXoc* 

These opinions of Methodius, if they be thoroughly 
examined, will be found to be not much less danger- 
ous, and contrary to the Scriptures, than some of 
those which he reproves in Origen. 

For the same reason just assigned, I shall also pass 
by Busebius, Didymus, Apollinaris, and others, who 
though they are ancient authors, yet there is usually 
little account made of them, by reason of the indif- 
ferent opinion the'greatest part of the Church had of 
them. The most ancient Fathers, (although perhaps 
their faith may not have been much freer from stains 
than that of others,) have yet been more favourably 
dealt with by posterity than their brethren ; whether 
it were because, the time they lived in being so far 
distant from the ages of our censors of other men, 
they have so much the less excited their envy and 
passion; or else because they were willing to spare 
them, by reason of the high opinion that the Church 
in general had of them. 

Lactantius Firmianus, whose repute was scarcely 
questioned among the ancients, had, notwithstanding, 
his errors. For it is long since Jerome observed a 
very strange one in him, in an epistle that he wrote 
to Demetrianus; where he denies "that the Holy 
Ghost is a distinct person in the Godhead, subsisting 

* Method, apud Epiplian. in Panar. Hser. 54, quae est Orig. 
p. 555. 



IN DIVERS POINTS OF RELIGION. 291 

together with the Father and the Son."* His other 
errors are not so dangerous, and are indeed common 
to him, with some other of the Fathers: as where he 
3, that the angels defiled themselves with women; 
and that from this their communion with them were 
born demons, or devils ;f as likewise where he teaches, 
"that the souls of men, after this life, are all shut up 
together in one common prison, where they are to 
continue till the day of judgment :"J and, "that our 
Saviour Christ shall come again upon the earth, be- 
fore the last and final resurrection; and that those 
who shall then be found alive shall not die at all, but 
shall be preserved alive, and shall beget an infinite 
number of children, during the space of a thousand 
years; living all of them peaceably together, in a 
most happy city, which shall abound with all good 
things, under the reign of our Saviour Jesus Christ, 
and of some of the saints, who shall be raised from 
the dead."§ 

But what will you say, if Hilary also himself, who 
flourished about the middle of the fourth century, has 
tares also; which are the more observable in him, 
in proportion as his estimation was greater among the 
ancients. The principal and most dangerous of all is 
that strange opinion which he held on the nature of 
Christ's body, which he maintained had no sense or 
fueling of those stripes and torments he suffered: 

* Laetantius in libria suis, ut maxime in epistolis ad Demetri- 

anum Spiritus mind oegal substantiam, ot errore Judaico 

vel ad Patrem referri, vel ad Filium, et Banctificationem 

ntrinaqne persons Bub ejus aomine demonstrari. — Hieron. ep. 66, 

ad r 

■x. Firm. lib. 2. divin. Instit. cap. 16. 
J Omni immnniqne enstodia detinentnr, d( 

[uo maxim meritoruii examen. — 

Id, lib, 7. cap, 21, 

J Turn qui eront in corporibns vivi. non morientur, Bed | er 
lem millc annoa infinitum multitndinem generabunt, &o., qui 
itabuntur, ii proibunt viventabua velut Ju- 
-. — /</. lib. 7, c. lii. 



292 THE FATHERS HAVE ERRED 

"but that he really suffered indeed at that time when 
he was beaten, and when he was hanged upon the 
cross, and fastened to it, and died upon it: but that 
this passion falling wholly upon his body, notwith- 
standing that it was a real passion, yet did not show 
upon him the nature of a passion; and that while the 
furious strokes were dealt upon him, the strength and 
vigour of his body received the force of the strokes 
upon it, yet without any sense of pain. I shall con- 
fess (says he) that the body of our Saviour had a 
nature susceptible of our griefs, if the nature of our 
body be such, as that it is able to tread upon the 
water, and to walk upon the floods without sinking, or 
without the waters yielding to our footsteps, when we 
stand thereon: if it can penetrate solid bodies, or can 
pass with ease through doors that are shut."* And 
within two or three lines after he says, "Such is the 
man sent from God, having a body capable of suffer- 
ing, (for he really suffered,) but not having a nature 
capable of pain. When the blows (said he, a little 
before) fell upon him, or a stripe pierced his skin, it 
brought indeed with it the violence and impetuosity 
of passion, but yet it wrought no pain in him ; in like 
manner as when a sword is thrust through and 
through the water, or through and through the fire, it 
goes through indeed, and pierces the water or the 
fire, but it wounds it not ; these things having not a 
nature that may be wounded or hurt, notwithstanding 
that the nature of the sword be to work the said 

* Passus quidem Dominus Jesus Christus dura caeditur, dum sus- 
penditur, dum crucifigitur, dum moritur: sed in corpus irruens 
passio, nee non fuit passio, nee tamen naturam passionis exercuit, 
dum et paBnali ministerio ilia desaevit, et virtus corporis sine sensu 
poense vim prance in se de&aevientis excepit; habuit sand illud 
Domini corpus doloris nostri naturam, si corpus nostrum id na- 
turae habet, ut calcet undas, et super fluctus eat, et non deprima- 
tur ingressu, neque aquae insistentis vestigiis cedant : penetret 
etiam solida, nee clausae domus obstaculis arceatur. — Hilar, de 
Trinit. I. 10. 



IN DIVERS POINTS OB RELIGION. 293 

effect."* In conclusion, that you may not think this 
to be a sudden fancy, that he fell on by chance, be- 
fore ho was aware, you must know that he repeats 
the same thing in divers other places: as in his com- 
ment on the fifty-third Psalm: "the passion of Christ 
(says he) was undergone by him voluntarily, to make 
an acknowledgment that pains were due; not that he 
that suffered was at all pained by them."f And 
again, in another place: "Christ is thought to have 
felt pain, because he suffered; but he was really free 
from all pain, because he is God."J 

Only think now, to what all this tends, and what will 
become of our salvation, if the passion of our Saviour 
Christ, which is the only foundation whereon it is 
built, were but a mere imaginary passion, without any 
sense of pain at all. And, as one absurdity being 
granted, there will necessarily others always follow 
upon it, so has this strange peculiar fancy of his made 
him corrupt and spoil the whole story of our Saviour's 
passion. For he supposes that in that dismal night, 
wherein Christ was delivered up for our sins, all his 
anguish, his distress, and drops of bloody sweat, pro- 
ceeded not from the consideration of the torments, 
and the death which he was now going to suffer, (and 

* Et homo illc cle Deo est, habens ad patiendum quidem corpus, 
ut ] | nataram non habens ad dolendum. Naturae 

enim propria ac .sued corpus illud est, quod in coelestem gloriam 

transformatur in morte In quo quanms aut ictus incident, aut 

minus descenderit, aut nodi concurrerint aut Buspensio elevarit, 
afferunt quidem lieec impetum passionis, non tamen dolorem 

runt: ut telum aliquod, aut aquam perforans, aut ignem 
eompungens, aut aera vulnerans, omnes quidem has passi< 

x hue infert, ut perforet, ut compungat, ut vulneret, Bed oa- 
turam Buam in lia-c passio illata non i lum in natura non 

i aquam forari, vel pungi ignem, vel aera vulnerari, quai 
natura teli .-it vulnerare, compungere, et forare. — Hilar, de Trin, 
I 10. 

pta yolunl -'o) officio quidem ipsa Batie 

patientem, &c. — Hilar, 

Putatur d< patitur; caret ?erd doloribua ipse, quia 

Deua j 



294 THE FATHERS HAVE ERRED 

indeed according to his account, since he will not allow 
him to have felt any pain, he ought not to be, nor in- 
deed could be, in any agony,) but rather from the 
fear he was under lest his disciples, being scandalized 
at these sad sights, might possibly sin against the Holy 
Ghost, by denying his Godhead; and that from hence 
it was, that Peter, in his denial of his Master, used 
these words: " Non novi hominem;" (I know him 
not as a man,) because that whatsoever is spoken against 
the Son of man may be forgiven.* So likewise in 
these words of our Saviour, " my Father, if it be 
possible, let this cup pass from me/' his opinion is, 
that our Saviour did not here desire that he himself 
might be delivered from his passion, but rather that 
after he had suffered, his disciples might also suffer in 
like manner ;"f that this cup might not rest at him, but 
that it might pass on to his disciples also; that is to 
say, that it might be drunk by them in the same man- 
ner as he himself was now going to taste of it ; to wit, 
without any touch of despair or distrust, and without 
any sense of pain, or fear of death. 

What could have been written more coldly, or more 
disagreeing with the truth and simplicity of the gos- 
pel? Yet I cannot sufficiently wonder at him, that 
having thus rarefied the flesh of our Saviour Christ 
into a spirit, he should in another place condense our 
spirits into bodies. u There is nothing (says he) 
which is not corporeal in its substance and creation, 
&c. For the species of our souls themselves, whether 
they be united to the body, or are separated from 

* Scribit exterrendos, fugandos, negaturos; sed quia spiritus 
blaspkemise nee hie, nee in eeternum remittitur, metuit ne se Deum 
abnegent, quern csesum, et consputum, et crucifixum essent con- 
templaturi; quae ratio servata est in Petro; qui cum negaturus esset, 
ita negavit, Non novi homineni : quia dictum aliquod in filium liom- 
inis remittitur. — Hilar, in Matth. can. 31. 

f Transeat calix a me, id est, quomodo a me bibitur, ita ab iis 
bibatur, sine spei dimdentia, sine sensu doloris, sine metu mortis, 
&C. — Id. ibid. 



IN DIVERS T01NTS OF RELIGION. 295 

them, have still a nature whose substance is corpo- 
real."^ He believes also, that baptism does not cleanse 
us from all our sins; and therefore he holds that all 
men must at the last day pass through the fire.f 
" We are then (says he) to endure an indefatigable 
fire. Then is the time that we are to undergo those 
grievous torments for the expiation of our sins, and 
purging our souls. A sword shall pierce through the 
soul of the blessed Virgin Mary, to the end that the 
thoughts of many hearts may be revealed. Seeing, 
therefore that that Virgin, who was capable of receiv- 
ing God, shall taste of so severe a judgment, where 
is he that dares desire to be judged of God?"J 

I know not whether he might heretofore have per- 
suaded any number of people to embrace this doc- 
trine of his or not ; but sure I am, that were he alive 
at this day, he would take but a useless piece of la- 
bour in hand, if he should go about to win the Fran- 
ciscan friars over to this belief. 

Ambrose, one of the most firm pillars of the Church 
in his time, is not more free than the rest from the 
like failings. For first of all, he agrees with Hilary 
in this last point, and maintains that all in general 
shall be proved by fire at the last day; and that the 
just shall pass through it, but that the unbelievers 
shall continue in it: u After the end of the world, 
(says he) the angels being sent forth to sever the good 
from the bad, shall that baptism be performed ; when 

* Nihil est quod non in substantia sun, etcrontiono. corporeum sit, 
&c. Nam et animartun sire obtinentium corpora sive cor- 

poribua exulantium, corpoream tames naturae Buaa substantiam sor- 
tiuntur. \fatth. can, 5. 

f Bat ergo quantum licet existimare, perfect® illms emundatio 
. etiam post baptismi aquas reposita, e^c. — Id. in /'.v. lis, 

J In quo (die Judicii) nobis est ille indefessus ignis obeundns, in 

qu i subeunda Bunt gravia ilia expiandaa a peccatis animsa Bupplicia. 

animam gladiua pertransibit, ut revelentur multorum 

8i in judicii severitatem cripai Ills Dei Virgo 

Tentnra est, desider audebit a Deo judicari? — 1<1. ibid. 



296 THE FATHERS HAVE ERRED 

all iniquity shall be consumed in a furnace of fire, that 
so the just may shine like the sun in the kingdom of 
God their Father. And although a man be such a 
one as Peter, or as John, yet nevertheless shall he be 
baptized with this fire. For the great baptizer shall 
come, (for so I call him, as the angel Gabriel did, say- 
ing, 'he shall be great/) and shall see a multitude of 
people standing before the gate of Paradise, and shall 
brandish the fiery sword, and shall say unto those 
who are on his right hand, who are not guilty of any 
grievous sins, 'enter ye in,'" &c* 

Ambrose says the same also in another place, where 
he exempts none from this fiery trial, except our Sa- 
viour Christ alone : " It is necessary (says he) that all 
that desire to return into Paradise should be proved 
by this fire. For it is not without some mystery that 
it is written, that God having driven Adam and Eve 
out of Paradise, placed at the entrance of Paradise a 
flaming sword which turned every way. All must 
pass through the flames, whether he be John the 
Evangelist, whom our Saviour loved so much, that he 
said, concerning him, to Peter, &c. Or whether it be 
Peter himself, who had the keys of heaven committed 
to him, and who walked upon the sea; he must be able 
to say, ' we have passed through the fire,' &c. But 
as for John, this brandishing of the flaming sword 
will soon be dispatched for him, because there is no 
iniquity found in him, who w r as so beloved of the 
truth, &c. But the other (that is Peter) shall be tried 
as silver is, and I shall be tried like lead: I shall burn 
till all the lead is quite melted down, and if there be no 

* Si quidem post consummationem soeculi missis angelis qui se- 
gregent bonos et malos, hoc futurum est baptisma, quando per 
caminum ignis iniquitas exuretur, ut in regno Dei fulgeant justi 
sicut sol, in regno Patris sui. Et si aliquis ut Petrus sit, ut Jo- 
hannes, baptizatur hoc igne. Veniet ergo Baptista Magnus, (sic 
enim eum nomino, quo modo Gabriel, &c.) — Ambros. in Ps. 118, 
Ser. 5. 



IN DIVERS POINTS OF RELIGION. 297 

silver at all found in roe, (wretched man that I am) I 
shall be cast into the lowest pit of hell."* 

As for the resurrection of the dead, Ambrose's 
opinion is, that all shall not be raised at once, but by 
degrees one after another, in a long yet certain order ;f 
those who were believers rising first, according to the 
degrees of their merits: to which we are to refer that 
which he has elsewhere delivered, saying, that "those 
who are raised up in the first resurrection, shall come 
to grace, without judgment; but as for the rest, who 
are reserved for the second resurrection, they shall 
burn with fire till they have fulfilled the full space of 
time between the first and the second resurrection; 
or if they do not finish this time, they shall continue 
very long in their torments. "J 

I shall leave the reader to take the pains in exam- 
ining whether or not that passage of his can be re- 
conciled to any good sense, where he says, that before 
the publication of the law of Moses, adultery was not 
an unlawful thing: "we are to take notice in the first 
place (says he) that Abraham living before the giving 
of the law by Moses, and before the Gospel, in all 

* Omnes oportet per ignein probari, quicunque ad Paradisum re- 
dire desiderant. Non enim otiose scriptum est, quod ejectis Adam 
el Kva posuit Dens in exitu Paradisi gladium igneum versatilem. 
Omnee oportet tranaire per flammas, sive Joannes Evangelista sit, 
quoin ita dilezit Dominus, ut de eo diceret ad Petrum, cSzc. Sive 
ille sit Petras qnj clavefl accepit regni coeloruin, qui supra mare 
ambnlayit, oportet dicat, Transivimua per ignem, &c. Sod Jbanni 
cito versabitor igneus gladius, quia non invenitur in eo iniqoitae, 
^u mii dilexit ;c [uitas, &c. Bed ille (Petrus) examinabitnr at ar- 
gentum; ego examinabor ut plombum, donee plumbum tabescal 
si nihil argenti id me inventum fuerit, (lieu me) in ultima 
inferni detrndar. — Id. in Ps. eund. ser. 20. 

f Licet in momento resnscitentnr omnes, omnes tamenmeritorum 
ordine suscitantur. — 1. /. <i> Fid. Resurrectionii. 

X Beati qui habenl partem in prima resurrectione; teti enim sine 
jndieio yeniunt ad gratiam. Qniantem non veniunl ad primam re- 
icundam reservantur, isti orentnr donee bu- 
rnt tempore inter primam et seenndam resurrectionem: ant si 
non impleverint, dinting in snpplicio permanebnnt, — Id. in Ps. 1. 

26 



298 THE FATHERS HAVE ERRED 

probability, adultery was not as yet forbidden : the 
crime is punished after the time of the law made 
which forbids it ; for things are not condemned before 
the law, but by the law;* and whether those discourses 
of his, which you meet with in his books, " De Instit. 
Virg. et ad Virg. et de Virg." and in other places, 
do not much reflect upon the honourable state of mar- 
riage. I shall also leave to the consideration of the 
judicious reader whether there be more of solidity or 
of subtlety in that exposition which he gives us of 
the promise made by God to Noah after the flood ; 
telling him that he had set his bow in the clouds, to 
be a token of a covenant between him and the whole 
earth. On these words Ambrose utterly and positively 
denies that by this bow is meant the rainbow ; but 
will have it to be I know not what strange allegorical 
bow. "Far be it from us (says he) that we should 
call this God's bow ; for this bow, which is called 'Iris, 
is seen indeed in the day-time, but never appears at 
all in the night. "f And therefore he understands by 
this bow, the invisible power of God, by which he 
keeps all things in one certain measure, enlarging 
and abating it as he sees cause. Neither do I know 
whether that opinion of his, which you have in his 
first book "De Spiritu Sancto" is at all more justifi- 
able, where he affirms that " baptism is available and 
legitimate, although a man should baptize in the name 
either of the Son or of the Holy Ghost only, without 
mentioning the other two persons of the Trinity. "J 
Epiphanius, as he was a man of a very good, hon- 

* Sed consideremus primum, quia Abraham ante legem Moysis et 
ante Evangelium fuit, nondum interdictum adulterium videbatur. 
Poena criminis ex tempore legis est, quae crimen inkibuit, nee ante 
legem ulla rei damnatio est, sed ex lege. — Ambros. I. 1. de. Abr. 
Patr. c. 4. 

f Absit ut hunc arcum Dei dicamus ; hie enim arcus, qui Iris 
dicitur, per diem videri solet, per noetem non apparet, &c. Est 
ergo virtus invisibilis Dei, &c. — Id. lib. de Noe, et Area, c. 27. 

$ Id. lib. 1. de Spir. Sanct. cap. 3. 



IN DIVERS POINTS OF RELIGION. 299 

est, and plain nature, and (if I may be permitted to 
speak my own opinion) a little too credulous, and 
moreover very sanguine and fierce in maintaining 
whatever he thought was right and true; so has he 
the more easily been induced to deliver and to receive 
things for sound which yet were not so ; and pertina- 
ciously to defend them, after he had once embraced 
them. It would take up both too much time and 
paper, if I were to enumerate all those things wherein 
he failed: if you choose you may have an account of 
a number of them in the notes of the Jesuit Petavius, 
his interpreter; who takes the liberty to correct him 
frequently, and sometimes also very rudely. Thus 
first of all he accuses him of obscurity, and of false- 
hood also, in the opinion he held on the year and day 
of our Saviour's nativity;* saying that some of his 
expressions regarding this point, are more obscure 
and dark than the riddles of the Sphinx. Truly he 
has reason enough to say so, of what he has delivered 
on the year of our Saviour's nativity ; but as for the 
day of that year, whether it were the sixth of Janua- 
ry, as Epiphanius held, with the Church of Egypt ;f 
or else it were the twenty-fifth of December, which is 
the general opinion at this day ; I think it very great 
rashness for any man to affirm either the one or the 
other; neither of these opinions having any better 
ground than the other. He likewise in plain terms 
gives him the lie, upon that place where he says that 
"in the beginning of the Church the Apostles had 
ordained that the Christains should celebrate the Pass- 
over at the same time and in the same manner as 
those of the Circumcision did ; and that those who 
were then made bishops at Jerusalem being of the 
Circumcision, it was necessary that all the w T orld 
should follow them, and should likewise keep the 

* Petav, in Rpiphan. p. 127, 182. 

f Epiphan. Haer. 0], quae est Alog. T. 1. p. 44G. 



300 THE FATHERS HAVE EKRED 

Passover as they did."* Neither do I see whereon 
he could ground that fancy of his, which he proposes 
to us as a certain truth : " that the devil, before the 
coming of Christ, was in hopes of grace and pardon ; 
and that out of this persuasion of his, he never show T ed 
himself all that while refractory towards God ; but 
that having understood, by the manifestation of our 
Saviour, that there was left him no hope of salvation, 
he from thenceforth had grown exceedingly enraged, 
doing as much mischief as he possibly could against 
Christ and his Church." 3 Hxooe jap dec tcov npocprjTcov 
xarajjelXovrcov too Xpcaroo Ttapou&iav Xorpwacv saofi- 
evrjV tcov apapzrjGavTwv, xac Sea Xpcaroo peravooo^rcoPj 
kvo/ju^e re reozsadac tcvoq klzouq. c Ore Se eiSev b 
TaAa<z tod XptOTOV prj Se^apevov abzoo nqv rcepc 

GLOT'qpta.C, iTZCGTpOCpTjV, &C.f 

Jerome, the boldest and most judicious censurer of 
the ancients, has also left to posterity something, 
whereon they may exercise the same sacred criticism 
that he has so happily employed upon others. For 
how should a man be able to make good that which 
he has affirmed so positively, respecting God's provi- 
dence, where he says, that it takes care of all men 
indeed in general, and also of each particular man ; 
but not of other things, whether they be inanimate 
or irrational? "It is an absurd thing (says he) so to 
abase the majesty of God, as to make him take par- 
ticular notice how many gnats are bred, or die every 
hour; and how many bugs, fleas, and flies there are 
through the whole earth: and how many fishes swim 
in the water; and which among the smaller fishes 
are to be a prey to the greater. Let us not be such 
foolish flatterers of God, as, by making his power 
descend even to the lowest things, to disparage our- 
selves; while we say, that his providence in like 

* Petav. Ibid, ad Hser. 70, num. 10. 
f Epiphan. in Pan. cap. 1. Raer. 39. 



IN DIVERS POINTS OF RELIGION. 301 

manner extends both to rational and irrational crea- 
tures."* 

I shall not examine here whether this opinion be 
justifiable or not: but this I am sure of, that you will 
hardly be able to make it good out of these words of 
our Saviour Christ — "are not two sparrows sold for 
a farthing? and yet one of them shall not fall on the 
ground without your Father." Yet supposing that 
this opinion might be defended, it is however evident 
that this Father has dashed out a little too much, 
when he derides all those as fools and absurd people, 
who choose rather to adore the knowledge of God as 
infinite, than to bound it and make it finite: and for 
my part I should rather fear that there would be 
much more rashness in the one, than folly in the 
other. 

This same man, who here limits the knowledge and 
providence of God, in another place extends to in- 
finity the presence of the souls of departed saints; not 
by any means suffering them to be confined and shut 
up in any certain place. The reason which he gives 
of this his opinion is indeed very wonderful: for 
"they always follow the Lamb (says he) wherever he 
goes; forasmuch therefore as the Lamb is present 
everywhere, we ought to believe that they also who 
are with the Lamb are present everywhere. "f 

Where is the school of logic, however loose and 
remiss it may be, that would not give a scholar the 

* Caeterfcm absurdum est ad hoc Dei dedueere majestatem, ut 
aciat per Bingula momenta quot nascantur culices, quotve moriantur, 
qnot cimicum et pulicum et muscarum Bit in terra multitudo, quanta 
- in aqua patent, et qui de minoribus majorum prsedee cedere 
debeant. Non Bimus tarn fatuj adolatoree J )<i, at dum potentiam 
ejus ad una d< trahimus, in qos ipsoe Lnjuriosi Bimus, eandem ration* 
abilium qnam Lrrationabilium providentiam ease dicentes. — Hicr. 
ll'jin. 1, ni Abac, 

f Sequuntur Agnnm quocumque vadit: si Agnus abique, kc. et 
sic qui cum Agno Bunt, abique esse credendi sunt. — -Hier. centra 
Vigil, torn. 2, p, 161. 

2G* 



302 THE FATHERS HAVE ERREI> 

ferula, if he should but offer to argue thus, confound- 
ing the divinity and the humanity of our Saviour 
together; and from that which is spoken in respect of 
the one, concluding that which is proper to the other? 
So in another place, in order to accommodate all the 
parts of an allegory to his purpose, he makes the 
souls of the blessed saints, and of the angels them- 
selves, subject to sin.* 

I shall pass by what he has spoken so reproach- 
fully, both against marriage in general, and against 
second marriages in particular ; where he uses such 
harsh expressions, that though we should, in explain- 
ing them, follow those very rules which he himself 
has laid down in an epistle of his written to Pamma- 
chius on this very subject — it seems notwithstanding 
an impossible thing to acquit him of holding the same 
opinion on marriage as Tertullian did, which was 
condemned by the Church as being contrary to the 
honour of marriage and the authority of the Scrip- 
ture. As for example, how much honey or sugar 
would be sufficient to sweeten that which he says, 
writing to a certain widow, named Furia, where he 
tells her, u that she was not so worthy to be com- 
mended, if she continued a widow, as she would be 
to be cursed if she married again: seeing she was not 
able, being a Christian, to preserve that which many 
women of her family had done, being but Pagans. "f 
These expressions of his he repeats again in the fol- 
lowing epistle, where he dissuades Ageruchia from 
marrying again ;{ and for this purpose makes use of 

* Nulli periculosum, nulli videatur esse blasphemum, quod et in 
apostolos invidise venerium diximus potuisse subrepere, cum etiam 
de angelis hoc dictum putamus, &c. — Id. ep. 164, ad Pam. t. 3. p. 
210. 

j- Ut non tarn laudanda si vidua perseveres, quam execranda, si 
id Christiana non serves, quod per tanta saecula Gentiles foeminaB 
custodierunt. — Mox p. 90; Canis revertens ad vomitum, et sus lota 
ad volutabrum luti. — Id. ep. 10. ad Fur. t. 1, p. 89 & 101. 

J Hsec brevi sermone perstrinxi, ut ostendam adolescentulam 



IN DIVERS POINTS OF RELIGION. 303 

very unseemly comparisons; applying to those women 
who marry again, that proverb which Peter made use 
of in another sense — u the dog is turned to his own 
vomit again, and the sow that w T as washed to her wal- 
lowing in the mire. ,, Is not this the same as if he in 
plain terms ranked second marriages among unclean 
and polluted things? Not unlike this is that which 
he says in another place in these words: "I do not at 
all condemn those who marry the second, third, or (if 
any such thing may be) the eighth time : nay, more 
than this, I receive also even a penitent harlot/'* 
Thus he places those women that marry a second 
time, in the same rank as those that submit to prosti- 
tution. And he is so full of such expressions as these, 
that the w T hole Canary islands themselves would 
hardly be sufficient to sweeten them. 

Certainly if Jerome had not believed that there 
was some uncleanness in marriage, he would never 
have been so unwilling as he was to speak out, and 
confess in plain terms that Adam should nevertheless 
have had carnal knowledge of Eve his wife, though 
they had both of them continued in their state of in- 
nocence :f which thing is evident enough to any one 
that considers the second chapter of Genesis, from 
verse 18, to the end. Nevertheless this Father durst 
not positively affirm any such thing, fearing lest he 
might thus impose some uncleanness upon the state 
of innocence, in case he should have allowed them the 
use of marriage. Nor is his opinion more sound, on 
the eating of flesh, which being unknown to the world 

meam non prastare monogamiam generi suo, Bed reddere; nee tnm 
laudandam esse a tribuit, quam omnibus execrandam si negare ten- 
it — hi. ep. 11. ad Ageruch. t. l,/>. 101. 
* Non damno digamos, imo nee trigamos, etsi dici potest oetog 
[uid inferam, etiam seortantem recipio poenitentem. 
— Id. 1. 1. adv. J • ni. ]>. 4. 

fcuod n objeeeris, anteqnani peccarent, sexum viri el foeminse 
fuisse diyisum, et absque peccatoeos potuisse eonjungi, quid i'utu- 
rum fuerit inoertum est, &e. — 1<L lib. 1. adv. Jovin.p. 61. 



304 THE FATHERS HAVE ERRED 

before the flood, was afterwards permitted to man- 
kind; but (as he believes) in the very same manner as 
divorce was heretofore permitted to the Jews, only 
from the hardness of their hearts; whence it follows 
(as he also says in express terms) that it was abolished 
by our Saviour Christ, in the same manner as divorce 
and circumcision were. "And whereas it is objected 
against us by Jovinian, that God, in the second bene- 
diction, permitted the eating of flesh, which he did 
not in the first; let him know, that as the liberty to 
put away a man's wife, according to the words of our 
Saviour, was not granted from the beginning, but was 
afterwards permitted to mankind, for the hardness of 
their heart; in like manner was the eating of flesh 
unknown until the flood: but after the flood, the 
sinews and poisonous juices of flesh were thrust into 
our mouths, as the quails were given to the people of 
Israel murmuring in the wilderness. "* Certainly 
divorce is a thing which is evil in itself, and is con- 
trary to the creation of the man and woman, and to 
marriage also, which was instituted by God in Para- 
dise ; as is divinely proved by our Saviour, when dis- 
puting with the Jews on this point. If therefore the 
eating of flesh be like it, this also is evil and unlawful 
in itself. Marcion and the Manichees could hardly 
have said more than this. 

In another place Jerome seems to be of opinion 
that our Saviour has utterly forbidden the use of an 
oath to Christians, f which doctrine is evidently con- 

* Quod autem nobis objicit in secunda Dei benedictione comeden- 
darum carnium licentiam datam, quae in prima concessanonfuerat; 
sciat, quomodo repudium juxta eloquium Salvatoris ab initio non 
dabatur, sed propter duritiem cordis nostri per Moysem humano ge- 
neri concessum est, sic et esum carnium usque ad diluvium ignotum 
fuisse ; post diluvium vero quasi in eremo murmuranti populo cotur- 
nices, ita dentibus nostris nervos, et virulentias carnis ingestas. — 
Hieron. lib. 1. adv. Jovin. 

f Hoc quasi parvulis Judasis fuerat lege concessum, ut quo modo 
victimas immolabant Deo, ne eas idolis immolarent, sic et jurare 



IN DIVERS POINTS OF RELIGION. 305 

trarr both to the Scripture and to reason. It will be 
a difficult matter also to clear him from the suspicion 
of that error, some traces of which, we have observed 
before, are apparent in Cyprian, respecting the efficacy 
of the sacraments. For only hear what he says. 
"The priests also, (says he) who serve at the Eucha- 
rist, and distribute the blood of our Saviour to his 
people, commit a great impiety against the law of 
Christ, in thinking ihat the Eucharist is made by the 
words and not by the life of the person who conse- 
crates it; and that the solemn prayers only of the 
priests are necessary, and not their merits also."* 

On the state of the blessed after the resurrection, 
he says, though very faintly, that they shall live with- 
out eating. "What then, will you say (these are his 
own words,) shall we eat after the resurrection? I 
know not that, I confess; for we find no such thing 
written: yet if I were to speak my opinion, I do not 
think we shall eat."f 

To give a judgment in general of this author, I do 
not know whether we may allow as being good, and 
perfectly conformable to the discipline of our Saviour 
Christ, the course which he usually observes in his 
disputations, wresting the words of his adversaries 
from the authors' intention; and framing to himself 
such a sense as is not to be found in them; and then 
fiercely 'encountering this giant of his own making, 
mixing with it abusive language and sarcasms, and 

permitterentur in Dcum: non quod recte hoc facerent. Bed quod 
meli Deo id exhibere, quaui dsemonibus. Evangelica autem 

reritafl non reciptjuramentum, &c. — Hter. Com. in Matth. t. 6./>. L6. 

* Sacordotes quoqne qui Eueharistia Berviuntj el Banguineni 
Domini populia ejus dividunt, impie agunl in Legem Christi, putan- 
t. - BueharietiaiD imprecantu facere verba, non ri tarn; el necessa- 
rian] Aennem orationem, et non Bacerdotum merits* — ■ 
Id. Com. v 189. 

f Ergo, inquies, el noe poei resurrectionem eomesuri sumus ! Nes- 
cio; non enim BCiiptom est; el tamen n qusBiitar, non puto come- 
euroe, — Id. ep. Gl, ad Pammaeh* t. '2, p. 262. 



306 THE FATHERS HAVE ERRED 

tart expressions borrowed from profane authors ; in 
which kind of learning he was indeed very eminent. 

Augustine, in the contest he had with him,* said 
that the holy ceremonies of the Jews, though they 
were abolished by Jesus Christ, might yet notwith- 
standing in the beginning of Christianity, be observed 
by those who had been brought up in them from their 
infancy, even after they had believed in Jesus Christ, 
provided they did not put their trust in them : because 
that salvation which was signified by these holy 
ceremonies, was imparted to us by Jesus Christ ; which 
doctrine of his is both godly and consonant also to 
what is urged by Paul, in the first epistle to the Co- 
rinthians, and elsewhere, respecting Christian liberty, 
which both permits and commands us to use or abstain 
from such things as are in themselves indifferent, ac- 
cording as shall be requisite for the edification of our 
neighbour. Now Jerome here would make us believe, 
that his meaning is, that all those who believed, among 
the Jews, were subject to the law, and that the Gen* 
tiles were the only people whom the faith in Christ 
had exempted from this yoke.f Then presently he 
takes occasion to pass as tart and cutting a sarcasm 
upon him as he could ; saying, that since it was so 
that all the believers among the Jews were bound to 
observe the law, Augustine himself, who was the 
most eminent bishop in the whole world, ought to 
publish this his opinion/ and to endeavour to bring 
over all his fellow bishops to be of his mind. But he 
had then to deal with an able adversary, and one that 
knew well enough how to clear his words from that 
interpretation which the other had put upon them, 
and to retort upon him whatever he had impertinently 

* Aug. Ep. ad Hier. quae est 87, inter Ep. Hier. torn. 2. p. 518. 

f Hoc si placet, imo quia placet, ut quicunque credunt ex Judasis 
debitores sint legis faciendae ; tu, ut Episcopus in toto orbe notissi- 
mus, debes hanc promulgare sententiam, et in assensum tuum om- 
nes coepiscopos trahere. — Hier. Ep. 89, ad Aug. t. 2, p. 525. 



IN DIVERS POINTS OF RELIGION. 307 

urged against him; as any man may perceive in that 
excellent and divine answer of his to Jerome, on this 
point, and the whole substance of his letters.* The 
case was otherwise between him and Ruffinus: for 
there he grappled with one much below his match, 
and dealt his blows upon a mere wooden statue; one 
that had scarcely any reason in what he said, and yet 
much less dexterity in defending himself. But the 
sport of it is, to see that after he has handsomely be- 
laboured and goaded this pitiful thing, from head to 
foot, and sometimes till the blood followed, he at 
length protests, at the end of his first book, "that he 
had spared him for the love of God, and that he had 
not afforded words to his troubled breast, and had set 
a watch before his mouth; according to the example 
of the Psalmist. "f 

In another place he reads him a long lecture,! tell- 
ing him that they w r ere not to use railing language in 
their disputations, nor to leave the question in hand; 
and to labour to bring in what accusations they could 
against each other, which are more proper at the bar 
than in the church, and fitter to fill a lawyer's bill 
than a churchman's papers. 

'Tis true indeed, that those who have been galled 
by him, are themselves to blame; forasmuch as he, 
out of his own candid disposition, courteously gave 
them warning himself; telling them beforehand, "that 
those that meddled with him had to do with a horned 
beast. "§ Yet some perhaps may still very much won- 
der how it should come to pass, that all those w T atch- 

* Aug. Ep. ad Hier. qtue est 07, inter Ep. Ilier. torn. 2. p. 560. 
f Sentisne quid taceam, quod eestuanti pectori verba oon commo- 
demt etcum Psalmists loquar, Pone Domine oustodiam ori meo, 
-Hier. lib. 1. contra Ruff. t. %p. 311. 

;t causa in supernua criminum objections versatus 
\m ecclesiastic®, sed libelli debent Judicium con- 
tiuere. — Id. in ApoL adv. Ruff. U >73. 

| ll ..• anum denuncio, et repetens iternm iterumque monebo, 
cornutam bestiam petis. — Id. ApoL 1, contra Ruff. t. 2, p. 811. 



308 THE FATHERS HAVE ERRED 

ings and that strict discipline which he endured in 
Bethlehem and the Desert of Arabia, should not have 
mortified these horns: to which I have no more to 
say than this ; that God by a certain secret and wise 
judgment, has suffered these holy men, notwithstand- 
ing all those excellent gifts of charity, patience, and 
meekness, wherewith they were abundantly endued, 
sometimes to let fall such slips as these on particular 
occasions; to let us understand, that there is nothing 
absolutely perfect but Grod alone ; all men, however 
accomplished, carrying about them some relics of hu- 
man infirmity. 

However it be, this course of Jerome's makes me 
doubt whether he has dealt any better with others 
than he has with Augustine, wresting their words 
much further than he ought to have done. But some- 
times he goes further yet, and speaks even of the pen- 
men of the Old and New Testament in such a disre- 
spectful manner, that I am very dissatisfied with his 
proceedings. As for example, where he says, in plain 
terms, without any circumlocution, that "the inscrip- 
tion of the altar at Athens was not expressed in those 
very words which were delivered by Paul, in Acts 
xvii. TO the unknown GOD; but in other terms thus; 

TO THE GODS OF EUROPE, ASIA AND AFRICA; UNKNOWN 

and foreign gods.* So likewise where he tells us, 
and repeats the same too in many several places, that 
Paul knew not how to speak, nor to make a discourse 
hang together :f and u that he makes solecisms some- 
times; and that he knew not how to render a hyber- 
baton, nor to conclude a sentence :"$ and "that he 

* Tnscriptio autem arae non ita erat, Tit Paulus asseruit, ignoto 
deo; sed ita: deis europje, asije, et Africa, deis ignotis et 
peregrinis. — Hier. Com. in Ep. ad Tit. t. 6. p. 450. 

f Hebrseus ex Hebrseis profundos sensus aliena lingua exprimere 
non valebat. — Hier. Com. 3, in Ep. ad Gal. p. 348, t. 6. 

% Iste qui solcecismos in verbis facit, qui non potest hyperbaton 
reddere, sententiainque concludere, audacter sibi vendicat sapien- 
tiam, &c. — Id. Comm. 2, in Ep. ad Ephes. t. 6. p. 384. 



IN DIVERS POINTS OF RELIGION. 309 

was not able to express his own deep conceptions in 
the Greek tongue: and that he had no good utterance, 
but had much ado to deliver his mind."* Again, in 
another place he tells us, that "it was not out of mo- 
desty, but it was the plain, naked truth that he told 
us, when the apostle said of himself, that he was im- 
peritus sermone, (rude in speech ;) because the truth 
is, he could not deliver his mind to others in clear 
language."! 

He says moreover, (which is yet much worse than 
all the rest) that "the apostle, disputing with the Ga- 
latians, became a fool, as knowing them to be a dull, 
heavy people; and that he had let fall some such ex- 
pressions as might possibly have offended the more 
intelligent sort of people, had he not beforehand told 
them, that he spake after the manner of men. "J Who- 
soever shall have had but the least taste of the force 
and vigour, and of the candour of the spirit and dis- 
course of this holy apostle, can never see him thus 
used, without being extremely astonished at it: espe- 
cially if he but consider, that this kind of speeches, 
although they had perhaps some ground (which yet 
they have not,) must needs give offence to the weaker 
sort of people; and therefore ought not to have been 

* Qui non juxta humilitatem, ut pleriqueaestimant, sed vere dixe- 
rit, imperitus sermone, non tamen scientia, Hebrous ex Hebraais, 
indos sensus Grace sermone non explicat, et quid cogitat, 
in verba viz promit. — Com. in Ep. ad Tit. t. 6. p. 440. 

f Illud, &c. etei imperitus sermone, &c. nequaquam Paulura de 
humilitate sed de conscienti© Yeritate, dixisse ; profundos enim et 
reconditoa Bensus Lingua non explicat, et cum ipse Bentiat, quid lo- 
quatur, in alienae aures puro non potest transferee sermone — Ep, 
>. LO, /. 3. p. L67. 
J Apostolus Gtalatifl quoque, quos paulo ante Btultoa dixerat, fac- 
to- esl stultus; non enim ad eoe h£e usus sal argumentis, quibus 
-■ '1 Bimplicioribus, et qua; stulti possenl intellig< 

at de trivio (Jnde manifestum est i<l Pecisse Aposto- 

lum quod promisit nee reconditig ad Galatas usutn esse sensibusj 
li mis, et \ ilibus, ei qumpossent, nisi promisisset, "secun- 
dum bominem dico," prudentibus displicere. — Id, Cum. 1. Ep, ad 
G . . • . , . -."1, 806. 
27 



810 THE FATHERS HAVE ERRED 

uttered, without some qualification and softening 
down. 

Augustine, I confess, is much more discreet in this 
particular, everywhere testifying (as there is very 
great reason he should) the great respect he bare to 
the authors of the books of the Holy Scriptures, and 
never speaking of any of them, whether of their style 
or sense, without singular admiration. But as to 
his private opinions, and those of other men which 
he embraces, he is not without his eirors also. Such 
is that harsh sentence of his, which he has pronounced 
upon all infants that die before baptism; whom he 
will have not only to be deprived of the vision of 
God, which is the punishment to which the ordinary 
opinion condemns them ; but he will further have 
them to be tormented in hell.* In this he is also fol- 
lowed by Gregorius Ariminensis, a famous doctor in 
the schools,f where he is called, by reason of this 
rigour of his, Tormentum infantium. Augustine 
maintains also, that the Eucharist is necessary for 
infants, as we have formerly noted to another pur- 
pose. To which we must also add that opinion to 
which he evidently inclines, that the soul is derived 
from father to son, J and is engendered of his sub- 
stance as well as the body, and is not immediately 
created by God, which is the common opinion at this 
day. There is no man but knows that he everywhere 
attributes to the angels a corporeal nature ;§ and also 
that he conceives, against all sense and reason, that 
the whole world was created all in an instant of time;|| 
and refers the six days' space of time, wherein the 
creation is said to have been perfected, to the differ- 

* Aug. t. 10. Ser. 14. de verb. Apostoli. 

f Greg. Arim. in 2, sent. d. 33. q. 3. 

% Aug. t, 2. Ep. 28. tot. mox F. 21. M. T. 3. de Gen. ad lit. lib. 
10. c. 11. t. 7. c. 2, de An. et ejus Grig. c. 14. 

§ See also toward the latter end of this chapter. — Id. t. 1. I. 1. 
contr. Acad. c. 7. 

|| Id. t. 3. 1. imperf. de Gen. ad lit. c. 7. etlib. 4. de Gen. ad lit. 
c. 31—34, et 1. 5. c. 11. 



IN DIVERS POINTS OF RELIGION. 311 

ent degrees of the knowledge of the angels. He be- 
lieved also, with most of the ancient Fathers, that the 
souls of men departed are shut into I know not what 
secret dark receptacles, where they are to remain 
from the hour of their departure till the resurrec- 
tion.* 

We need not trouble ourselves any further in prov- 
ing that he also might err in matters of religion, see- 
ing that himself has made so clear and so authentic a 
confession thereof, in his Retractations, where he cor- 
rects many things which he had formerly written 
either foreign to or against the truth. 

I must here confess also, that in my opinion it 
would have added very much to the great and high 
esteem which we generally have of his learning and 
worth, if he had been more positive and more re- 
solved in the decision of matters which he has treated, 
for the most part after the manner of the Academics, 
doubtingly, and w T averingly all the way; insomuch 
that he leaves undecided not only whether the sun 
and the other stars be endued with reason, but also 
whether the world itself be a living creature or not.f 

lie that will but critically and carefully read the 
rest of the Fathers, may very easily observe in their 
writings various errors of a similar nature; and a 
man will scarcely meet with any one Father of re- 
pute, from whom something of this kind has not es- 
caped. As for my own part, who have taken upon 
me this troublesome subject very unwillingly, I shall 
content myself with these few instances already set 
down, seeing they do, in my judgment, make this 
business very clear; the discovery whereof I have 

* Tempos quod inter hominis mortem ft ultimam resurrectionem 

interpositom est, animaa abditis receptaculis continet, &o. — Id, t. 

id Laur. cap. 109. Vid . I. c. curd pro morluu. c, 

. f> i, c. L2. t. 9. /' ■ . 19. in Joan. fol. 7 1. 

f H. t. 8. Enohir. ad Laur. c. 58. de Gen. ad lit. 1. 2. o. lb. Id. L 

1. Retract c. 11. 



312 THE FATHERS HAVE ERRED 

been obliged to undertake, though I wish rather they 
had been concealed. For seeing that these so emi- 
nent persons, who were of the greatest repute 
amongst all the ancients, have through human in- 
firmity fallen into such errors in point of faith; what 
ought we to expect from others who come much be- 
hind these in antiquity, learning, and holiness of life? 
Since Justin Martyr, Irenseus, Clemens Alexandri- 
nus, Tertullian, Cyprian, Lactantius, Hilary, Am- 
brose, Jerome, Augustine, and Epiphanius, (that is to 
say, the most eminent and most approved persons 
that ever were,) have yet stumbled in many places, 
and utterly failed in others ; what are we to expect of 
Cyril, Leo, Gregorius Romanus, and Damascene, who 
have come after them, and in whom has appeared 
both much less talent and sanctity, than in the 
former? Besides, if these holy men have been mis- 
taken in matters of such great importance; (some of 
them, for instance, on the nature of God ; some on 
the humanity of our Saviour Christ; others on the 
quality of our souls ; and some on the state and con- 
dition thereof after death, and on the resurrection;) 
why must they needs be infallible, when they speak 
of the points now disputed amongst us ? Why may 
not the same thing have happened to them in the one 
case that has so manifestly befallen them in the 
other? It is not probable (as we have said before) 
that they so much as ever thought of our differences: 
and it is much more improbable, that ever they had 
any intention of being our judges in the decision of 
them, as we have before proved. 

But now suppose, that they were acquainted with 
the business, and that they did intend to clear our 
doubts, and to give us their positive determination, 
regarding the same in their books; who shall assure 
us that they have had better success here than they 
had in so many other things, wherein we have before 
heard them give their verdict so utterly against all 



IN DIVERS POINTS OF RELIGION. 313 

justice and reason? He that has erred on the sub- 
ject of the resurrection, is it not possible that he 
should be in an error on the state of the soul after 
this life? He that could be ignorant of the nature of 
Christ's body, must he necessarily have a right judg- 
ment on the eucharist? I do not see what solid 
reason of this difference can possibly be given. It 
cannot proceed but from one of these two causes, 
neither of which has yet any place here. For it 
happens sometimes that he who has failed on one sub- 
ject, has succeeded better on another; by reason per- 
haps of his taking more heed to, and using more 
attention in the consideration of the latter than he 
did in the former; or else because one of the points is 
easier to be understood than the other. For in this 
case, though his attention be as great in the one as in 
the other, yet notwithstanding he may perhaps be 
able to understand the easy one, but shall not be able 
to master the difficult one. But now, neither of these 
reasons can be alleged here: for why should the an- 
cients have used less care and attention in the exami- 
nation of those points wherein they have erred? Or 
why should they have used more in those points, 
which are at' this day controverted amongst us? Are 
not those ancient points of religion of as great im- 
portance as these latter? Is there less danger in 
being ignorant of the nature of God, than of the au- 
thority of the Pope? or of the state of the faithful in 
the resurrection, than of the punishment of souls in 
purgatory; the real qualities of the body of Christ, 
than the nature of the eucharist; the cup of his pas- 
sion, than the cup of his communion? Is it more ne- 
cessary to salvation to know him sacrificed upon the 
altar, than really suffering upon the cross? Who 
sees not that these matters are of equal importance? 
or if there be any difference betwixt them, that those 
points wherein the Fathers have erred, are in some 
27* 



314 THE FATHERS HAVE ERRED 

sort more important than those which we now dis- 
pute about? 

We shall therefore conclude, that if they had both 
before their eyes, they would questionless have used 
as much diligence at least, and attention in the study 
of the one as of the other; and consequently in all 
probability would have been either as successful, or 
else have erred as much in the one as in the other. 

Neither may it be here objected, that those points 
wherein they have failed, are of more difficulty than 
those others wherein these men will needs have them 
to have been certainly in the right: for whosoever 
shall only consider them more narrowly, will find 
that they are equally easy and difficult : or if there be 
any difference betwixt them in this particular, those 
which they have erred in, were the easier of the two 
to have been known. For I pray, is it not as easy to 
judge by reason, and by the Scripture, whether or 
not the saints shall dwell upon earth after the resur- 
rection, as it is to determine whether, after they are 
departed this life, they shall go into purgatory or 
not? Is it a harder matter to know whether the 
angels are capable of carnal love, than it is to judge 
whether the Pope, as he is Pope, be infallible or not? 
And if it be answered here, that the Church having 
already determined these latter points, and having 
not declared itself at all touching the other, has taken 
away all the difficulty of the one, but has left the 
other in their former doubtful state, this is to beg the 
question; or rather it is manifestly false: the Church 
in the first ages having not, to our knowledge, passed 
any public or authentic judgment on the points now 
controverted, as we have already proved. 

As therefore these holy men, if they had any 
thought at all of our present disputes, had an equally 
clear insight in these things, and according to all 
reason and all probability, applied to them an equal 
attention and affection; I believe that there is no 



IN DIVERS TOINTS OF RELIGION. 315 

man but sees, that if they might err in the decision of 
the one, it is altogether as possible that they might 
be mistaken also in their judgment upon the other. 
Now those books of theirs, which are left us, proclaim 
aloud and openly, (as we have seen by those few tes- 
timonies, which we have but just now produced out of 
them,) that they have erred, and sometimes also very 
grievously, on those first questions : it remains there- 
fore to say, that their judgment is not a whit more 
infallible in our present controversies. Should you 
therefore demonstrate to any Protestant, by clear and 
undeniable reasons, that Hilary, in those passages 
which are produced out of his works for this purpose, 
has positively taught the real presence of Christ in 
the eucharist; and should he even grant you the 
same; which yet perhaps he will never do; after all, 
he has this still to remind you of, that this is the self- 
same Hilary, who in the same book maintains, that 
the body of Christ felt no pain upon the cross. And 
if he was in error in this particular, why must he ne- 
cessarily be right in the other? The question on the 
body of Christ is of as great importance as that of 
the eucharist: and it is besides much more clearly de- 
cided in the Scriptures ; where there is nothing that 
obliges us in the least degree to fancy any such thing 
of the body of Christ, as Hilary has done: but where, 
on the contrary, there seems to be some kind of 
ground for the opinion which he is pretended to have 
had on the eucharist. Since therefore, (will the Pro- 
testant say) in a thing which is of equal importance, 
and of much less difficulty, he has manifestly erred, 
w 7 ho can assure me, that in this point, which is both 
less necessary and more difficult, he may not also be 
mistaken? The same has he to reply upon you, on 
those other allegations, which you produce from the 
rest of the Fathers; every one of whom has either 
really erred, or else possibly might have erred, in 
matters of religion. Neither can you hope that any 



816 THE FATHERS HAVE ERRED 

solid answer should be given to these things; espe- 
cially if you but consider that the practice, both of 
the Fathers, and also of our adversaries themselves, 
has clearly confirmed this our position. For Augus- 
tine,* in that dispute of his which he maintained 
against Jerome, seeing him produce the testimonies 
of seven authors (taking no notice at all of the words 
of the first four of them) answers no more than that 
some of them were guilty of heresy, and the rest of 
error : which answer is very insufficient, unless you 
allow that the testimony of a man who has erred in 
any one particular point of faith is null and void. 

The Fathers of the second council of Nice took the 
very same course in answering an objection brought 
against them by the Iconoclasts, who alleged a cer- 
tain passage for themselves out of Eusebius, bishop of 
Csesarea; answering them nothing more than that the 
author they cited was an Arian.f We need not ex- 
amine whether this answer of theirs be true or not: 
and if so, whether it be to the purpose or not: it is 
sufficient for us that it appears by their making use 
of this kind of answer, that they took it for granted 
that he that had failed in one point was not to be 
trusted in any other. Cardinal Perron, and the rest 
of the learned of that party, make use of the same 
manoeuvre, rejecting the testimonies brought against 
them out of Socrates or Sozomen, two ecclesiastical 
historians, because they say they were Novatians. 
Those w T ho published the general councils at Rome 
disauthorize Gelasius Cyzicenus, who was the com- 
piler of the acts of the council of Nice, by producing 
many gross oversights committed by him in that 
piece ol his. J 

* Aug. Ep. ad Hier. inter Ep. Hier. 47. t. 2, p. 551. & inter 
Epist. Aug. 19. t. 2. 

f Cone. VII. Act. 6. torn. 3. Cone. Gen. p. 627. 

X In Prsefat. prsefixa Act. Cone. Niceni, Gelas. Cyzic. in edit. 
Rom. Cone. Gen. torn. 1. 



IN DIVERS POINTS OF RELIGION. 317 

As therefore we are not to build upon the authority 
of any author who may justly be accused of error, it 
is most evident that the authority of the greatest part, 
and indeed in a manner, of all the Fathers, may very 
well be called in question : seeing that you will hardly 
find any one of them that is not liable to this excep- 
tion. 

But it will here be objected perhaps, that although 
it be confessed that the opinion of one single Father 
possibly may be, and many times is, really false; yet 
it is very improbable, or indeed impossible, that what 
has been delivered unanimously by many of them 
together, should be otherwise than true. But we 
have answered something already to this objection, 
where w T e took occasion to examine that maxim of 
Yincentius Lirinensis, on this particular. And in 
short, this is as if, having confessed that every par- 
ticular person of a company is sick of some disease, 
we should notwithstanding still deny that the whole 
company, taken altogether, can possibly fall into any 
common distemper of body. It is not indeed, alto- 
gether so probable, that many should be sick of any 
disease, as that one single person should : yet neither 
is the thing altogether impossible, especially when the 
disease is contagious, and besides not so well known; 
as for the most part the errors of great persons are, 
whose very name bears them out, and makes them 
easily received by the ordinary sort, who run after 
them, and receive them without the least suspicion. 

Yet if reason be insufficient, let experience persuade 
us to receive the truth. For it is most evident that 
some of those errors before specified have been main- 
tained, not by one, nor by two, nor by three of the 
Fathers only, but by many, by the major part, and 
sometimes also by all the Fathers of the same age; 
at least of all those whose names and writings have 
come to our hands. AVe have heard how Justin Mar- 
tyr maintained the opinion of the Millennarians, which 



318 THE FATHERS HAVE ERRED 

is manifestly false in itself, and very dangerous in its 
consequences. Now this opinion he did not maintain 
alone ; the rest of the learned of his time were in a 
manner all of the same persuasion, as it appears 
by his own words. For, writing against Tryphon, 
and the Jews that agreed with him, he says, "If you 
by chance meet with some who bear the name of 
Christians, but do not believe this article of faith, but 
dare to blaspheme the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and 
of Jacob, and say that there is no resurrection of the 
dead, but that the souls, immediately after death, are 
transported up to heaven, do not suppose these per- 
sons to be Christians, no more than, in speaking truly 
and precisely, the Samaritans, or any other sect 
of Judaism, are to be called Jews." El yap xac 
cuveflolere upecq tccfc Xeyojuepoc^ XpcoTcapocq, xac touto 
julyj bptoXoyoixjcp, dXXa xac ftXaacprj/jtecp ToXpwac top 
6eop Aftpaaju, xac top deop Iaaax, xac top Oeop laxcoft, 
at xac Xeyooac pyj eipac psxpcop dpaaTaacp, AXXa dpa 
to) dizodprjoxecp Ta<; (puyac, aoTcop dpaXapftapeadac et£ 
top oupapop' prj imoXafirjTe auTOUQ XpcoTcapou^ &c* 

The false Christians, of whom he here speaks, were 
the Valentinians, and others of the Gnostics. He 
shortly proceeds, and says, "As for me, and the rest 
of us, w T ho are perfectly orthodox Christians, we know 
that there shall be a resurrection of the flesh, and that 
the saints shall afterwards spend a thousand years in 
Jerusalem, which shall be rebuilt, beautified, and en- 
larged." 'Eyaj de, xac ei tcpsq elacp bpQoypcopopzc, 
xaxa izaPTa XpcoTcovoc, xac oapxoQ dpa.aTO.ocp yeprjoeadac 
ircccrTapeda, xac Jj^Xca. iT7j ip hpouaa)yp ocxo dopy decay, 
xac xoGfr/jdecar], xac TrXaTUpdeccrrj, &c.f By which words 
he seems to testify that all the Catholics in his time 
maintained this erroneous opinion, and that the here- 
tics only rejected it. I know very well that he con- 
fesses before, "that there were many who were per- 

* Just, contr. Tiyph. p. 306. t Id - ibid - P- 307 - 



IN DIVERS POINTS OF RELIGION. 319 

feet and religious Christians, who yet did embrace the 
said opinion:" but let any man that can, reconcile 
these two contrary sayings: "that all orthodox Chris- 
tians held this opinion;" and "that there were some of 
the orthodox party that did not receive the same:" — 
JIoaao'j: o ah xae zcov zr^ xadapat: xac ebaeftouq ovzcov 
Xpcazco^cov yvcoiir^, zouzo pcq yvcopt^etv karjfMLva ooc* 

Let any man that will, search also into Justin's 
works, and see whether this contradiction has not 
been foisted in, by the zeal of the following ages; 
who probably might take offence at seeing such an 
opinion fathered upon all the true Christians by so 
great a martyr. It is sufficient for us that it is clear 
from this passage, that a very great part of the doc- 
tors, and of the faithful people of those times, main- 
tained this error. We see that Irenseus, who lived in 
the same time, and also Tertullian, who followed not 
long after him, were both of the same persuasion; no 
one, all this while, of whom we hear, offering to con- 
tradict them. Eusebius, and Jerome, and various other 
authors, inform us, that Papias, bishop of Hierapolis, 
who nourished about the year of our Lord 110, was 
the author of this opinion. f 

It follows then from hence, that the consent of all 
the Fathers that are now extant, who lived in the 
same age, and maintained all the same opinion, is no 
necessary argument of the truth. But if you go 
down lower, you will find that the very same error 
was defended by several doctors of very great repute 
in the Church. 

Jerome, who in divers places of his commentaries 
has excellently and solidly refuted this foolish fancy, 
says,]; that many among the learned Christians had 
maintained the same; and to those whom we have 

* Just, contr. Trvph. p. 300. 

f Euseb. Hist BccL 1. 3, c. 39. Hieron. 1. de Scrip. Eccles. in 
Papia. Tom. 1 . p. 356. * 

J Id. Comm. 11. in Ezech. t. 4, p. 984. 



320 THE FATHERS HAVE ERRED 

already mentioned, he adds Lactantius, Victorinus, 
Severus, and Apollinarius, "who is followed in this 
point (says he in another place) by great multitudes 
of Christians about us, insomuch that I already foresee 
and presage to myself, how many men's anger I shall 
hereby incur;"* that is, because he everywhere spoke 
against this opinion. 

Whence it plainly appears, that in Jerome's time 
(that is to say, about the beginning of the fifth centu- 
ry) this opinion generally prevailed in the Church. 
And indeed however fierce he seems to be in his on- 
set, yet he dares not condemn this opinion absolutely. 
"Although we embrace not this opinion, (says he) 
yet can we not condemn it; forasmuch as there have 
been various eminent personages and martyrs in the 
Church, who have maintained the same. Let every 
man abound in his own sense, and let us leave the 
judgment of all things to God."f Whence you see, 
by the way, that the Fathers have not always held 
an opinion in the same degree that we do. For 
Jerome conceived this to be a pardonable error, of 
which we at this day will not endure to hear. 

If it be here answered, that the Church in the ages 
following condemned this opinion as erroneous, this is 
no more than to say, that the Church in the ages fol- 
lowing acknowledged that the joint consent of many 
Fathers together on one and the same opinion, is no 
solid proof of the truth of the same. If Dionysius 
Alexandrinus had been of any other judgment, he 
w T ould never have written against Irenseus as he did; 
as Jerome also testifies^ in one of his books of Com- 

* Quern (Apollinarium) nostrorum in hac parte duntaxat phirima 
sequitur multitude*, ut prsesaga mente jam cernam, quantorum in 
me rabies concitanda sit. — Id. Com. 18. in Esa. in Prctfat. 

f Quae licet non sequamur, tamen damnare non possumus, quia 
multi ecclesiasticorum virorum, et martyres ista dixerunt: et unus- 
quisque in suo sensu abundet, et Domini cuncta judicio reserventur. 
— liter . Com. 4. in Ilierem. t. 4, p. 598. 

J Id. Com. 18, in Es. in Praefat. 



IN DIVERS POINTS OF RELIGION. 321 

mentaries before cited. And if we are to have regard 
to authority only, the judgment of the succeeding 
church cannot then serve us, as a certain guide in this 
question, to inform us on which side the truth is: for 
to allege it in this case were rather to oppose one 
authority against another, than to decide the contro- 
versy. 

As Dionysius Alexandrinus, Jerome, Gregory Na- 
zianzen, and others, conceived not themselves bound 
to submit to the authority of Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, 
Lactantius, Victorinus, Severus, and others; so nei- 
ther are we any more bound to submit to theirs: for 
their posterity owes them no more respect than they 
themselves owed to their ancestors. It seems rather 
that in reason they should owe them less; because 
the further they are distant in time from the Apos- 
tles, who are as it were the spring and original of all 
ecclesiastical authority, so much do the credit and 
authority of the Doctors of the Church decrease. If 
antiquity (as we said) be the mark of truth, then cer- 
tainly that which is the most ancient is also the most 
venerable and the most considerable. And if there 
were no other instance but this, against the authority 
of many Fathers unanimously consenting in any opin- 
ion, yet would it clearly serve to lessen the same; but 
there are yet behind many others, some of which we 
shall here produce. We have before seen Justin Mar- 
tyr, Irenseus, Tertullian, and Augustine, affirming all 
of them that heaven shall not be opened till the day 
of judgment; and that, in the interval, the souls of all 
the faithful are shut up in some subterraneous place, 
except some small number of those who had the privi- 
lege of going immediately to heaven. The author of 
those Questions and Ansivers, that go under the 
name of Ju.-tin Martyr, maintains the same opinion, 
a.< you may see in the answers to the 60th and 74th 
questions. 

That I may not unprofltably spend both time and 
2b 



322 THE FATHERS HAVE ERBED 

paper in citing all the particular passages, I say in 
general, that both the major part, and also the most 
eminent persons among the ancient Fathers, held this 
opinion, either absolutely, or at least in part. For 
besides Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, Tertullian, Augustine, 
and the author of those Questions and Answers we be- 
fore mentioned, which is a very ancient production 
indeed, though falsely fathered upon Justin Martyr, 
it is clear that Origen, Lactantius, Victorinus, Am- 
brose, Chrysostom, Theodoret, (Ecumenius, Aretas, 
Prudentius, Theophylact, Bernard, and, among the 
Popes, Clemens Romanus, and John XXII , were all 
of this opinion, as is confessed by all ; neither was this 
so admirable and general consent of theirs contra- 
dicted by any declaration of the Church, for the space 
of fourteen hundred years; neither yet did any one of 
the Fathers, so far as we can discover, take upon him 
to refute this error, as Dionysius Alexandrinus and 
Jerome did to refute the Millennarians; all the rest of 
the Fathers being either utterly silent as to this par- 
ticular, and so by this their silence going over in a 
manner into the opinion of the major part, or else 
contenting themselves with declaring sometimes here 
and there in their books, that they believed that the 
souls of the saints should enjoy the sight of God till 
the resurrection ; never formally denying the other 
opinion. 

But that which further shows that this opinion is 
both very ancient, and was also very common among 
the Christians, is, that even at this day it is believed, 
and defended by the whole Greek Church: neither is 
there any of all those who profess to follow the wri- 
tings of the Fathers, as the rule of their faith, who 
have rejected it, save only the Latins who have ex- 
pressly established the contrary at the council of Flo- 
rence, held in the year of our Lord 1439.* 

* Diffinimus insuper, &c, illorum animas qui post susceptum 
bap tit ma nullam omnino maculam incurrerunt, illas etiam quae post 



IN DIVERS POINTS OF RELIGION. 323 

Do but imagine now to yourselves a Vincentius Liri- 
nensis, standing in the midst of this council, and lay- 
ing before them his own oracle before mentioned; 
which is, "that we ought to hold as most certainly 
and undoubtedly true, whatever has been delivered by 
the ancients unanimously and by a common consent :" 
would he not have been hissed out by these reverend 
Fathers, as one that made the truth, which is holy 
and immutable, to depend upon the authority of men? 
For these men regarded not either the multitude, or 
the antiquity, or the learning, or the sanctity of the 
authors of this foolish opinion ; but finding it to be 
false, without any ceremony rejected it, as they 
thought they had good reason to do, and at once or- 
dained the contrary. 

Now I am verily persuaded, that there are very 
few points of faith, among all those which the Church 
of Rome would have the Protestants receive, for which 
there can be alleged as many specious testimonies, as 
there can be undoubted ones for this. Since then, 
after all this, it has not only been called in question, 
but has been also even utterly condemned, who 
sees not, that the consent of many Fathers together, 
although any such might be found upon all the points 
now in debate, would yet be no sufficient argument 
of the truth of the same? But I shall pass on to 
the rest. 

We hive before heard that Tertullian, Cyprian, 
(who was both a bishop and a martyr,) Firmilianus, 
itropolitan of Cappadocia,) Dionysius, (patriarch of 
Alexandria,) together with the synods of bishops of 
Africa, Cappadocia, Cilicia, and Bithynia, all held 
that the baptism of heretics was invalid and null. 
Basil, 4 who was one of the most eminent bishops of 

oonto maculam yel in Buia corporibus, vel eisdem ex- 

utEB corporibus, prout Buper'd dictum est, Bunl purgata?, in coelum 
ipi, etintueri cUre ipsum Deum, trinum et unum. — Cone. 
J . ■. I. 584. 

* Basil, ep. Amphiloch. torn. 2. p. 758, 759. 



324 THE FATHERS HAVE ERRED 

the whole Eastern Church, held also, in a manner, 
the very same opinion, and that a long time too after 
the determination of the council of Nice; as it ap- 
pears by the epistle which he wrote to Amphilochius; 
which is also put in among the public decrees of the 
Church, by the Greek Canonists. And yet this opin- 
ion is now confessed by all to be erroneous. 

Many in like manner of the Fathers, as Tertullian,* 
Clemens Alexandrinus,f Lactantius,| and Africanus,§ 
believed that our Saviour Christ kept the Feast of the 
Passover, but once only, after his baptism. Yet, not- 
withstanding this assent of theirs, the opinion is known 
to be very erroneous, as Petavius|| also testifies; and 
besides it is expressly contrary to the text of the 
Gospel. 

I shall not here say anything of the opinion of 
Chrysostom,^[ Jerome,** Basil, ff and the Fathers of 
the council held at Constantinople, AXXaxac evTeralzae 
qucv Ttapa zoo acorrjpo^ XptaroD, jjltj bfioaat, &c.,JJ 
under the patriarch Flavian; who seem all to have 
held, that an oath was utterly unlawful for Christians, 
under the New Testament. Neither shall I take any 
notice in this place of that conceit of Athanasius, 
Basil, and Methodius, who, according to John, bishop 
of Thessalonica,§§ believed that the angels had bodies : 
to whom we may also add, (as we have shown before,) 
Hilary, Justin Martyr, Tertullian, and very many 
more of the Fathers, who all thought the nature of 
angels to be capable of carnal love; of which number 

* Tertul. lib. contr. Jud. cap. 8. 
f Clem. Alex. Strom, 1, 6. 

J Lactant. Firmian. 1. 4. cap. 10. 

# African, apud Hieron. Com. in Dan. cap. 10, torn. 4. pag. 1147. 
|| Petav. Not. in Epiphan. p. 203. 

\ Chrysost. Horn, in statuas, et passim. 

** St. Hieron. Com. 1, in Matth. t. 6, p. 15. 

ff Basil. Horn, in Ps. 14, t. 1, p. 154 et 155. 

++ Act. Cone. Const, act. 1, t. 2, p. 129. 

%% T. 3. Cone. p. 547, in act. Cone. vii. act 5. 



IN DIVERS POINTS OF RELIGION. 325 

is even Augustine* also. Whosoever should now 
conclude from hence, that this fancy of theirs (which 
yet is of no small importance) is a truth; would he 
not be as sharply reproved for it by the Romanists, 
as by those of Geneva? But I must not forget, that 
besides Cyprian, Augustine, and Pope Innocent I. 
whose testimonies we have given before,! all the 
rest of the Doctors, in a manner, of the first ages 
maintained, that the eucharist was necessary for 
infants; if at least you will take Maldonat's word, J 
who affirms that this opinion was in great request in 
the Church, during the first six centuries after our 
Saviour Christ. 

Cassander also testifies^ that he has often observed 
this practice in the ancients; and Charlemagne and 
Louis the Pious, who lived a long time after the sixth 
century, testify that this custom continued in the 
West, even in their time, according to Cardinal Per- 
ron :|| and the traces of this custom remain to this 
day among those Christians who are not of the Com- 
munion of the Latin Church. For Nicolaus de Lyra, 
who lived above three hundred years since, observed, 
"That the Greeks accounted the holy eucharist so 
necessary, that they administered it to little children 
also, as well as baptism."^ Even in our fathers' 
time, the Patriarch Jeremiah,** speaking in the name 
of the whole Greek Church, said, "We do not only 

* Aug. t. 1, lib. 1. contr. Acad. c. 7, t. 2, op. Ill, ct cp. 11-"), ot 

t. 8, Bnchir. ad Laur. c. 5 '. de Trin. 1. 2, c. 7, ct 1. ::. cap. 1. ct. 1. 8, 

cap. 2, ct de Gen. ad lit. 1. ; ). cap. tO, ct 1. 11. cap. 22, e^dedivin. 

I, 5, ei L 4, 1. 93, qnssst. 9, 17. t. •">. i. 1 1. de Cir. I>«i. 

cm].. 26, «-t. 1. I"*, cap. 28, ct ibi Vires, ct 1. 21, cap. •_'•;. ei cp. 10. 

pr. 1. 1. X Maldon. in Joh. \i. 

It ad F«T. ct Max. p. 936, el lib, de Bapt . Int. 
p. 1 

|| Du Perron, t St. August pag. 1001. 

J" Notai iod ( i ;. -• quod dicitur lii<\ Nisi mandncaveritis, 

ssci, quod hoc sacramentum es1 bants tatis, 

-cut baptismus —Nicol. '1' Lyra in Joh. 
** Hierem. Patr. Const Exh, ad Germ. 



326 THE FATHERS HAVE ERRED. 

baptize little children, but we make them partakers 
of the Lord's Supper." And a little after, "we 
account both sacraments to be necessary to salvation 
for all persons, namely, Baptism and the Holy Commu- 
nion. " The Abyssinians also make their children in 
like manner communicate of the holy eucharist, as 
soon as they are baptized.* 

These are most evident arguments, that this false 
opinion on the necessity of the eucharist, was of old 
maintained, not by three or four of the Fathers only, 
but by the major part, and in a degree by all of 
them. For we do not hear even of one among all 
the ancient Fathers, who rejected it in express terms, 
as the council of Trent has done in these later times. 

To conclude, the Jesuit Pererius has informed 
usf (and indeed the observation is obvious enough to 
any man, who is ever so little conversant in the 
writings of those authors, who lived before Augustine's 
time) that the Greek Fathers, and a considerable 
part also of the Latins, were of opinion that the 
cause of predestination was the foresight which God 
had, either of men's good works, or else of their 
faith; either of which opinions, he assures us, is 
manifestly contrary both to the authority of the 
Scriptures, and also to the doctrine of Paul. There- 
fore I conceive we may, without troubling ourselves 
any further in making this invidious inquiry into the 
errors of the Fathers, conclude, from what has been 
already produced, that seeing the Fathers have erred 
in so many particulars, not only singly, but also 
many of them together, neither the private opinions 
of each particular Father, nor yet the unanimous 
consent of the major part of them, is a sufficient 
argument to prove with certainty the truth of those 
points which are at this day controverted amongst us. 

* Alvarez, in his Voyage to Ethiopia. 
| Perer. in Rom. c. 8, (lisp. 22, et 23. 



CONTRADICTORY OPINIONS OF TIIE FATHERS. 327 



CHAPTER V. 

Reason V. — That the Fathers have strongly contradicted one 
another, and have maintained different opinions in matters of 
importance. 

Bessario, a Greek, (who was honoured with the 
dignity of Cardinal by Pope Eugenius IV., as a 
reward of his earnest desire and the great pains 
he took in endeavouring to effect a reconciliation 
between the Eastern and the Western Churches,) in 
a book which he wrote upon this subject to the coun- 
cil of Florence, will have the whole difference between 
the Greek and Latin Churches to be brought before 
the judgment seat of the Fathers.* And forasmuch 
as he knew, that unless the judges all agreed, the 
cause, (especially in matters of religion) necessarily 
remains undecided, he strongly labours to prove, that 
not only is each Father consistent with himself, but 
(which is yet much harder to prove) that they are all 
of the same opinion one with another: insomuch 
that he commands us, whenever there appears any 
contrariety in their writings, that we should accuse 
our own ignorance, rather than blame them for con- 
tradicting each other. 

We may conclude therefore, from what is here laid 
down by this author, who was both as acute and as 
learned a man as any at this council, that to render 
the Fathers capable of being the judges of our con- 
troversies, it is necessary that they should be all of 
the same judgment and opinion in point of religion. 
And certainly this is a most clear truth; for if there 
be any contradiction amongst them, or dissension in 
opinion, they will leave our controversies more per- 
plexed, and instead of uniting, will rather distract 

* Bessar. Orat. Ylyi ivajra*;, c. 2. p. 520, et 621, t. 4, Cone. 



328 CONTRADICTORY OPINIONS OF THE FATHERS 

us. That we may therefore be able to come to the 
knowledge of the truth in this particular, it will 
behove us first of all to examine the truth of Bes- 
sario's assertion, that the opinions of the Fathers 
never clash, on points of religion. 

Now, although this were so, it would not neces- 
sarily follow that their judgment is infallible; since 
even an error may, either by conceit, or by accident, 
or by some other similar means, happen to meet with 
unanimous accordance by various persons. But if 
this should prove to be false, then certainly we may 
make this infallible conclusion, that we ought to seek 
out for other judges of our controversies than the 
writings of the Fathers. We shall therefore show, 
by way of addition to the rest of our proofs, that 
this assertion of his is more bold than true; and, 
that there are many real differences to be found 
among the ancient Fathers in matters of religion. 
We have already noticed some of them incidentally, 
when speaking of other matters, and therefore we 
shall only lightly advert to them ; and first of all as 
to that disagreement in opinion of the most ancient 
among the Fathers, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, and 
Tertullian, on one side; and Dionysius Alexandrinus, 
Gregory Nazianzen, and Jerome, on the other: the 
first of these promising us very seriously the delights 
and pleasures of a thousand years, and the diamonds 
and the sapphires of a new earthly Jerusalem, with 
all its glory and prosperity; but the other very 
coarsely, and in downright terms, reproving this their 
conceit, a3 being an idle fancy, fit to be entertained 
by little children and old women only; and which 
seems to have been derived rather from the dreams 
of the Jews than from the doctrine of the Apostles. 

Similar to this was that difference between the 
bishops of Asia and Pope Victor, about the observa- 
tion of Easter-day : and of Cyprian and Stephen, 
about the baptism of heretics : in all which differences 



IN MATTERS OF GREAT IMPORTANCE. 329 

the heat was so high, that it proceeded so far as to 
excommunicate each other. If Bessario now could 
but make it appear to us, that these were not real 
but seeming contradictions only, I should then make 
no question but that he would easily reconcile fire 
and water, or whatever things else in nature are the 
most contrary to one another. 

We have heard that Tertullian maintained, that 
the soul was ex traduce, and was propagated from 
the father to the son, by the natural course of gen- 
eration ; and that Augustine likewise inclined to the 
same opinion; to whom, if we will believe Jerome, 
we must add a very considerable number of the 
Western Church also, who were all of the same 
persuasion.* But Jerome rejects them all, and their 
opinion, f and says that the soul is created immedi- 
ately by God, at the very instant that it is united to 
the body; adding moreover (as we have formerly 
noticed) that this is the belief of the Church in this 
point. 

Jerome, and his adherents, held that all that 
reprehension used by Paul to Peter, which we find 
mentioned in the epistle to the Galatians, was only a 
feigned business, purposely acted between the two 
Apostles, by an agreement made between themselves. 
Augustine, and several others, maintain the contrary, 
and say that the thing was real, and was meant 
heartily and seriously, and as it is related by Paul ; 
and that there was no cunning or underhand dealing 
in the business between Peter and him. And Jerome 
pursued this dispute with so much earnestness, that 
besides those epistles of his, which are full of gall 
and choler, on this particular, he yet, in his Commen- 
taries,^ which he wrote in his quieter temper, many 

\u cert£ <x traduce, at Tertullianns, Apollinarras, ei maxima 
lentalimn autumant — -Hieron. Ep. 82. t. -. 
f Id. Com. in Eccles. o. 12, t. 6. el Ep. 61, ad Pamm. t. 2. p. 
242, ei alibi passim. 

{ Vid. Coin. 14, in Es. t. 4, p. 378, et Com. 18, in cund. p. 485. 



330 CONTRADICTORY OPINIONS OF THE FATHERS 

times takes occasion to point underhand at Augustine, 
upon this old quarrel between them. So that cer- 
tainly he must be quite out of his wits, whoever shall 
seriously maintain, that these two Fathers were per- 
fectly of one opinion, and agreed upon these points. 

Justin Martyr is of opinion that it was the real 
ghost of Samuel that appeared to Saul; TtjV lapoorjX 
<po%rjv xkrfi-qvax uno r^c iyyaazpipodoo;* being raised up 
by the enchantments of the witch at Endor. Others 
say it was but a phantom: Too deoo zoo dedcoxozo^ zco 
dcu[ioM) ev toj a^rjpazi zoo ZaiioorjX ocpdrjvai zq iyyaaz- 
pipodco;-\ some of them hold that the meeting together 
of the faithful at the eucharist thrice a week, is an 
apostolical tradition: J others believe the contrary. § 
Some enjoin us to fast on Saturdays ;|| others forbid 
the same, under the penalty of being accounted no 
less than the murderers of Christ.^" Some of them 
conceive that our Saviour Christ suffered death in the 
fortieth or fiftieth year of his age.** Others again 
would persuade us, that he died in the thirtieth or thir- 
ty-first year of his age :ft both which opinions are mani- 
festly contrary to the text of the gospel, which tells 
us clearly that after his baptism, that is to say, after 
the thirtieth year of his age, he conversed above three, 
and under five years, upon the earth. Some of them 
(as we are informed by these Latinized GreeksJJ) al- 
low of these terms, cause and effect, in the doctrine of 
the Trinity; but some others again do not so. Some 

* Justin, cont. Tryph. p. 333. 

f Pseudo Just. 1. Q. et R. Resp. ad q. 52. 

% Epiphan. in Panar. Expos, fid. p. 1104. 

$ August, in Ep. 118, ad Jan. t. 3, vid. Petav. in Epiph. p. 354. 

|| Vid. Petav. p. 359, in Epiph. Eccl. Rom. ap. Socr. 1. 5, c. 22. 
August. Ep. 86, et 118. Innoc. I. Ep. 1, c. 4. 

fl Ignat. Ep. 4, ad Philip. Can. Apost. c. 68, Oonstit. Apost, 1. 7, 
c. 24, Syn. Trull, can. 55. 

** Iren. 1. 2, c. 39. 

ff Tertull. Clem. Alex. Lactant. Afric. ubi supr. 

%% Scholarius, Orat. 3, t. 4, Concil. Gen. p. 658, 659. 



IN MATTERS OF GREAT IMPORTANCE. 331 

of thorn are of opinion, that there is a certain order 
or distinction of priority in the persons of the Trinity. 
Others again there are, who will not endure to hear of 
this expression. 

Those of the Western Church call the Son only, 
The Image of the Father; but the Greek Church 
makes this name extend to the Holy Ghost also. 
Basil will not allow of the word ytwr^a^ offspring, 
in discoursing of the Son. Others again make use of 
it without any scruple at all. 

I doubt very much whether Bessario had ever read 
the Apologies and Invectives of Jerome and of Ruf- 
finus, who were yet both of them Fathers, and of 
good, though not of equal repute in the Church, both 
of their own time and of the ages following; nor do 
I believe he remembered the quarrel there was be- 
tween Theophilus and Epiphanius on the one part, and 
Chrysostom on the other. For certainly their con- 
duct toward each other, does not show them to have 
been very well agreed. But now to overthrow this 
bold assertion of his at once, we need go no further 
than to the very point on which he proposed it. For 
whom will he ever be able to persuade that all the 
Fathers have written and said the very same things 
on the Procession of the Holy Ghost? It is evident 
that sometimes they will have him to proceed from 
the Son also, as Basil has expressed himself, in that 
passage of his which is alleged by the Latins, out of 
his book against Eunomius, (which poduction however 
the Greeks say is forged,) and as the Fathers of the 
Western Church have most expressly declared them- 
selves in many places.* But yet I cannot possibly 
see how we can say that they have all been of this 
opinion. 

I shall not here interfere with those other authori- 
ties produced by the Greeks out of the Fathers which 

* Con. Flor. Act. 20, t. 4, Cone. p. 4-34. 



332 CONTRADICTORY OPINIONS OF THE FATHERS 

their adversaries put by as well as they can; often- 
times most miserably wresting, and torturing the 
words and meaning of the Fathers. But that passage 
of Theodoret, in his refutation of Cyril's Anathemas, 
is so clear and express, that nothing can be more so. 

Cyril had said, in his 9th Anathema, that the Holy 
Ghost proceeds properly from the Son: ' Idcov abroo 
(XpctTTou) to izveopa* Theodoret answers, that it is 
both impious and blasphemous to say that the Holy 
Ghost has his subsistence from the Son, or by the 
Son. "If he means (says he) that the Holy Ghost 
proceeds properly from the Son, as being of the same 
nature with him, and as proceeding from the Father, 
we shall willingly agree with him, and receive his 
doctrine as sound and pious; but if he mean that the 
Holy Ghost has its subsistence from the Son, or by 
the Son, we will reject it as impious and blasphemous." 
*lbzov 3e to Ttveopa too oloo, el pep ax; bpoyoeq, xac ex 
TiaTpo; exizopeoopevov i<pyj, aovopoloyrjoopev, xac ujq 
euasft/] de^opeda ttjv (ptowjv el d" wq ig oloo, ij dl oloo 
Tfjv bizaptcv iyov^ w; ^Xaaip-qpov tooto, xac a>c doaefte^ 
dizoppapopev^ 

He could not have thrown by this proposition of 
Cyril more bluntly, or in coarser terms ; and yet to 
so direct a charge of falsehood, and to so insolent a 
rejection of a doctrine then received by the Church, 
as the Latins pretend, Cyril replies no more than 
this: "that the Holy Ghost, although he proceeds 
from the Father, nevertheless is not a stranger to the 
Son ; since he has all things common with the Father !" 
' } ExTiopeueTac pev yap ix too deoo xac noxpo; to Tiveopa 
to aycov, xaTa tqv too ScoTYjpo; (pcovrjv, aXX obx 
d/loTpcov iau too oloo' navTa yap eyec peTa too 
naTpoQ.% 

* Cyril. Anath. 9. 

f Theodor. Refut. Anath. 9, Cyril. Act. Cone. Eph. 

% Cyril. Resp. ad Ref. Theod. Anath. 9, ibid. 



IN MATTERS OF GREAT IMPORTANCE. 333 

Why did he not cry out against Theodoret as a 
heretic, as he many times elsewhere does, with much 
less reason ; if at least, as you assert the Church at 
that time held that the Holy Ghost proceeded from 
the Son? Why did he not take it very ill at his 
hands, that he should in so insolent a manner reject, 
as impious and blasphemous, a proposition that was so 
holy and so true? Why did he not call the whole 
Church in, to be his warrant for what he had said, if 
it had really been the general belief of the Church at 
that time? And how comes it to pass that, instead 
of all this, he rather returns so tame an answer, that 
he seems rather to betray his own cause, and to 
incline to the opinion of his adversary? For it is evi- 
dent that neither Theodoret, nor yet any of the 
modern Greeks, ever held that the Holy Ghost was a 
stranger to, or was unconcerned in, the Son: seeing 
that they all confess, that these three, to wit, the 
Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, are one and 
the same God, who is blessed for ever. 

Whosoever shall but diligently consider these 
things, (for we cannot enter further into the exami- 
nation of them,) cannot, in my judgment, but confess 
that the Church has not as yet declared itself, or 
determined anything on this point; and that these 
doctors spake herein each man his private opinion 
only, and according as the present occasion of dispu- 
tation led him to speak; contradicting one another, in 
the manner usual in speaking of things not as yet 
thoroughly examined, or expressly determined: inso- 
much that it would grieve a man to see how the 
Greeks and the Latins toil to no purpose, each of them 
labouring to bring over the Fathers to speak to their 
side, and wresting their words, whenever they seem 
to be but ever so little ambiguous; and repeatedly ac- 
cusing one another of having corrupted the writings 
of the ancients, whenever they are found to speak 
expressly against them; and when all is done, giving 
* 29 



334 CONTRADICTORY OPINIONS OF THE FATHERS 

very little satisfaction to unprejudiced readers; where- 
as it had been much easier to have honestly confessed 
at first, what is but too apparent, that the Fathers, 
in this, as in many other points of religion, have not 
all been of one and the same persuasion. And 
whereas Bessario, that he may elude this testimony 
of Theodoret, affirms that he was cast out of the 
Church, for having denied that the Holy Ghost pro- 
ceeded from the Son ;* and that he afterwards pub- 
licly confessed his error at the council of Chalcedon, 
where he was received into the Church again; all this, 
I say, is only a piece of Grecian assurance ; which 
shows more clearly than all the rest how much this 
man was carried away by his zeal on this subject. 
For, I pray, in what ancient author, had he ever 
read, that Theodoret was, I do not say condemned or 
excommunicated, but so much as reproved, or accused 
only, for having maintained any erroneous opinion 
on the procession of the Holy Ghost? We have the 
acts of the council of Ephesus, where he was excom- 
municated. We have the letters of Cyril, wherein 
he again received into the communion of the Church, 
John, Patriarch of Antioch, and all his followers, of 
which number Theodoret was the chief. We have the 
council of Chalcedon; where Theodoret, after some 
certain accusations of his adversaries against him, was 
at length received by the whole assembly as a Catho- 
lic bishop, and was admitted to sit amongst them. In 
which of all these authentic pieces is there so much as 
one word spoken on this opinion of his, concerning 
the point of the proceeding of the Holy Ghost? Cyril 
himself, that is to say, those of his party, did not at 
all condemn what he said on this particular; but he 
rather contented himself with excusing, or, if you 
please, in defending only his own opinion. The busi- 

* Bessar. in Orat. Dogmat. sive de Unione Extra, cap. 9, in Act. 
Cone. Flor. Sess. 20, t. 4, Cone. p. 551. 



IN MATTERS OF GREAT IMPORTANCE. 335 

ncss for which Theodoret was questioned in the coun- 
cils of Ephesua and Chalcedon, had nothing in the 
world to do with this, touching the procession of the 
Holy Ghost; for the question was only there on the 
two natures of our Saviour Christ, whom Nestorius 
would needs divide into two persons ; John, Patriarch 
of Antioch, Theodoret, and divers other Eastern 
bishops, favouring in some sort his person, or being 
indeed offended rather at the proceeding of the coun- 
cil of Ephesus against hire; and withal rejecting 
several things that were contained in the anathemas 
of Cyril. 

Now with what conscience could this man tell us, 
after all this, that Theodoret had been deposed from 
his bishopric for having maintained an erroneous 
opinion on the procession of the Holy Ghost? But 
enough of this. 

I would, in the next place, wish to know how this 
reconciler of differences could compose that debate 
between the six hundred and thirty Fathers of the 
council at Chalcedon, and Leo bishop of Rome; and 
how he can reconcile the twenty-eighth canon of the 
one, with those many epistles written by the other on 
this point, to Anatolius, Patriarch of Constantinople, 
to the emperor Marcianus and his empress, to the 
prelates who were met together in that council, and 
to the Patriarch of Antioch : the Fathers of this coun- 
cil advancing the throne of the Patriarch of Constan- 
tinople above those of Alexandria and of Antioch, 
and making it equal even with that of Rome itself: 
Pope Leo on the contrary sending out his thunder- 
bolts against this decree of theirs, as a most insuffer- 
able error. And when this our conciliator shall have 
done his business at Chalcedon, if he please he may 
pass over into Africa, and there also reconcile the 
Fathers of that country to the bishops of Rome; the 
former of these forbidding their clergy to make any 
appeals to Rome, and the other in the meantime to 



336 CONTRADICTORY OPINIONS OF THE FATHERS 

their utmost endeavouring to prove, that it is their 
proper right to have such appeals brought before 
them. And when he has finished this work, our 
Greek may then in the next place try to remove all 
misunderstanding between the Fathers of the council 
of Francfort, and those of the second council of Nice, 
on the point of the use of images; the latter of these 
ordaining, "that we ought to pay them salutations 
and adoration of honour; and that we ought to hon- 
our them with incense and lights ;" Kac zaozac^ 

&G7ta<jfiov xat zc[irjrcx7ju npoaxovvjacv drcovepecv 

Kac dop.capLO.Tcov xac cpcorcov TipoaajcoyrjV izpoc, ttjv 
toutcdv rcprjv nocecadac ;* and the other, as every man 
knows, having not only rejected this Greek Council, 
but having written also expressly against it, by the 
command of the emperor Charlemagne. 

Certainly he that shall but read the Fathers them- 
selves will readily perceive that they contradict each 
other in most plain and irreconcilable terms ; and that 
there is no other way of bringing them fairly together, 
but by receiving every one of them with his own pri- 
vate opinions ; imitating herein the marvellous wis- 
dom of the council of Constantinople in Trullo;f 
which receives and allows all in gross without dis- 
tinction, both the canons of the Apostles, and the 
whole code of the Church universal, together with 
those of Sardica, Carthage and Laodicea; amongst 
which notwithstanding there are found strong contra- 
dictions. As, for example, the council of Sardica will 
have the right of receiving the appeals of all bishops 
to belong to the see of Rome,J whereas Chalcedon 
gives this privilege to that of Constantinople.! The 
council of Laodicea leaves out of the canon of the 

* Coqc. 7, Act. 7, in defin. t. 3, Cone. p. 661. 

f Synod. Quinisexta Can. 2, t. 3. [Trullus, a hall in the palace 
at Constantinople, so called from Trullium, a bowl, which it resem- 
bled in form. — Ed. Bd. of Pub.] 

J Synod. Sard. Can. 3 et 7. \ Synod. Chalced. c. 9 et 17. 



IN MATTERS OF GREAT IMPORTANCE. 337 

Scriptures the Maccabees, Ecclesiasticus, the book of 
Wisdom, Tobit and Judith:* that of Carthage puts 
them in expressly. f But now these honest Fathers 
of Constantinople, that they may satisfy all, take no 
notice whatever of these their differences; but receive 
each of them with their own particular canons and 
opinions, without obliging them to any one common 
rule; doing this, I believe, on condition that they 
themselves may not be required by those whom they 
thus admit to receive any more from them than they 
shall think convenient. I know no man that would 
not at this rate readily admit as canonical, all the 
writings of the Fathers: provided that he might but 
have liberty to adopt or reject what he pleased. Thus 
we may very well from henceforth rest satisfied, that, 
notwithstanding Bessario's decision to the contrary, 
the Fathers have not always been of the same judg- 
ment in matters of religion: and that consequently 
they ought not to be received by us as our judges on 
the matter. For seeing that I find them contradict- 
ing each other in so many important points, how shall 
I be assured that they are unanimously agreed on 
those points which are now debated amongst us? 
AVhy may they not have had the same diversity of 
opinion on the eucharist, the authority of the Church, 
the power of the Pope, freewill or purgatory, that 
they had in those other points which we have before 
presented to the reader's view ; which were of as great 
importance as these, and no less easy to be deter- 
mined, as we have proved in the preceding chapter? 

Epiphanius and Jerome are as opposite in their 
judgments, on the ancient condition of priests and 
bishops, as Theodoret and Cyril are, on the proces- 
sion of the Holy Ghost. Neither are some opinions 
of Tertullian and of Damascene, of Theodoret and 
Eusebius of Emesa; of Eusebius of Ciosarea and 

.. 59. f Synod. Carthag. iii. c. 17. 

29 



338 CONTRADICTORY OPINIONS OF THE FATHERS 

the Seventh Council, on the point of the eucharist, 
less opposite to each other, than are those of Cyprian 
and of Stephen on the baptism of heretics; and so 
likewise in many other particulars. Why then should 
we take so much pains in reconciling these men, and 
making them speak all the same thing? Why should 
we so cruelly torture them as we do, to make them 
all of one opinion, and to say the same things, 
whether they will or no ; and sometimes too against 
our own conscience; but certainly, for the most part, 
without any satisfaction to the reader? Why should 
we not rather honestly confess that their opinions 
were also different, as well as their words? 

We make no scruple in affirming that they have 
been of contrary opinions, on those other points of 
religion, which are not at all now controverted amongst 
us. What great harm would it do, if we should 
confess that they were not any better agreed on 
these points now in debate? But we need not press 
this matter any further ; it is sufficient for us that 
we have proved that they were of different opinions 
in point of religion; so that it clearly follows from 
hence, that we ought not to admit of their writings, 
as the proper judges of our controversies. 

I have heretofore adverted, though very lightly, 
to their diversity of opinion and contrariety in their 
expositions of the Scriptures; which is, however, a 
business of no trifling consideration. For if we 
take them for our judges, we shall then necessarily 
be obliged every minute to have recourse to them, 
for the sense of those passages of Scripture on which 
we disagree among ourselves. If there be now as 
great difference in judgment on these things among 
them as there is amongst ourselves, what have we 
then left us to trust to ? This passage, for example, 
in the Gospel according to John, "I and my Father 
are One/'* is of very great importance in the dis- 

* Ego et Pater unum sumus. — John x. 30. 



IN MATTERS OF GREAT IMPORTANCE. 339 

putes against both Sabellius and Arius. Would you 
now know the true sense and meaning of these words, 
lest otherwise, by misinterpreting the same, you 
might chance to fall over the one or the other of these 
two precipices ? If you have recourse to the Fathers 
in this case, you shall have some of them referring 
it to the union of the affection and of the will,* and 
others again, to the unity of essence and of nature. f 

So likewise this other passage in the same Evan- 
gelist : " My Father is greater than I,"$ is very 
considerable also in the question on the divinity of 
Jesus Christ: and yet there are some among the 
Fathers§ who understand the words as spoken indefi- 
nitely of the Son of God, although the rest of them 
ordinarily restrict them to his humanity. These 
words also of John, "the word was made flesh, "|| 
are of no small consideration in the disputes against 
Nestoriue and Eutyches. Now if you bring the busi- 
ness before the Fathers, you shall have some of them 
expounding these words,Tf by comparing them with 
those passages in Paul, where it is said that Christ 
was made sin** and a curse for us:ft Dut Cyril says, 
that we must take heed how we thus interpret the 
words. %X 

It would be an endless task if I should here 
attempt to enumerate all the differences and con- 
trarieties of judgment to be found in the Fathers. 
Those who have a mind to see any more of them 
may have recourse to some of our late commentators, 

* Unura non pcrtinct ad singnlaritatem. Bed ad unitatem, arl 
Bimilitadinem, a<l coDJunctionem, ad dilectionem Patris, qui Filium 
_' r . et ad obsequimn Pilii, qtri roluntati Patris obsequitur. — 
Tertul, . i _. — Autor libri de Trim. \e. 22. Orig. contra 

i 5, p. 896. 

t Atiaaii Nazianz. alii pen£ omnes passim. 

J Jol ipban. Ancor. p. 23. || John i. ^ \. 

\ Imbros. 1. de Tim;,,-. Sacr. o. 6, t. 2. p. 188. Athan. Bp. ad 
. t. 1. p. 587. & t. 2. p, 2 

r. v. 21. I J. iii. 18. 

XX Cyril. ApoL Atkun. 1. t. 1. Colic. Gl-iict. p. 515. 



340 THE FATHERS ARE NOT ACKNOWLEDGED 

whose usual course is, to bring in all together the 
several interpretations of the Fathers upon those 
books which they comment upon : as Maldonate has 
done upon the Gospels; Cardinal Tolet upon John; 
Justinianus, upon the epistles of Paul, and others: 
where they will find that there is scarcely any one 
verse that all the ancients understood in the same 
sense. What is yet worse than this, besides this 
contrariety and difference of interpretation, you will 
often meet with many frigid and vapid expositions: 
and it is very seldom that you shall find there that 
solid simplicity which we ought to expect from all 
those who take upon them the interpretation of the 
Holy Scriptures. 

Thus, therefore, as we often meet with contra- 
riety of judgment, as well in their expositions of 
the Scriptures as in their opinions, we may safely 
conclude that they are not of sufficient authority to 
be admitted as supreme judges of our controversies: 
that contradiction which is often found amongst them, 
evidently showing that they are not infallible judges, 
such as it is requisite that they should be, for 
establishing all those points which are at this day 
maintained by the Church of Rome against the 
Protestants. 



CHAPTER VI. 

Reason VI. — Neither the Church of Eome nor the Protestants 
acknowledge the Fathers for their judges in points of religion; 
both of them rejecting such of their opinions and practices as are 
not suited to their taste. An answer to two objections that may 
be made against what is delivered in this discourse. 

Thus far have we laboured to prove that the writings 
of the Fathers have not authority enough in them- 
selves to be received as definitive judgments upon our 



AS JUDGES IN POINTS OF RELIGION. 341 

differences in religion. Let us now, in the last place, 
sec what claim they have to our regard. For although a 
sentence of judgment should be good and valid in itself, 
as being pronounced by a competent judge, duly and 
according to the forms of law; yet this would not 
serve to determine the controversy, if the authority of 
this judge be denied by either of the parties, unless, 
as it is in worldly affairs, the law be armed with such 
a power, as to be able to force those who are obstinate 
to submit to reason. As the question is here concern- 
ing religion, which is a holy and divine thing, to the 
embracing whereof men ought to be persuaded and 
not compelled, force has no place here. For although, 
perhaps, they could compel men outwardly to render 
some such respect to the writings of the Fathers, this 
would not serve to make any impression of the belief 
of the same, in the heart of any one. The same divi- 
sions would still remain in the minds of men, which 
you are first of all to pluck up by the roots, if ever 
you intend to make men agree in points of religion. 
For the certain determination therefore of all differ- 
ences of this nature, it is necessary that both parties 
be persuaded that the judge w T ho is to pronounce sen- 
tence upon the same, has as much authority as is re- 
quisite for that purpose. Though the Fathers had 
clearly and positively pronounced what they thought 
on the point in hand, (which yet they have not done, 
as we have proved before,) and though they had been 
endued with all these qualities which are requisite for 
rendering a man fit to be a supreme judge, from whom 
there can be no appeal, (which yet is not so, as we 
have already clearly proved,) yet all this w T ould be to 
no purpose, unless this authority were acknowledged 
by both parties. 

The Old Testament is a book which was written by 
divine inspiration, and is endued with supreme autho- 
rity, so that every part of it ought to be believed. 
Yet this has not any influence with a Pagan; because 



342 THE FATHERS ARE NOT ACKNOWLEDGED 

lie does not acknowledge any such excellent worth to 
be in it. In like manner the New Testament cannot 
decide the differences between the Jews and us; not 
because it is not of sufficient authority in itself, but 
because it is not so to the Jew. And indeed he w 7 ho 
should adduce, in disputing against the Pagans, the 
authority of the Old Testament, or that of the New, 
for bringing over a Jew to our belief, would be worthy 
of ridicule. 

Suppose therefore, that the writings of the Fathers 
were clear upon our questions; nay, let it be granted 
moreover that they were written by Divine inspira- 
tion, and are of themselves of a full and undeniable 
authority; I say still that they cannot decide our de- 
bates, if either of the parties shall refuse to acknow- 
ledge this great and admirable dignity to be in them ; 
much less if both parties shall refuse to allow them to 
have this advantage. Let us therefore see, in what 
account the several parties hold the Fathers, and 
whether they acknowledge them as the supreme 
judges of their religion; or at least as arbitrators, 
whose definitive judgment ought to stand firm and in- 
violable. 

As for Protestants, whom their adversaries would 
fain persuade, if they could, to receive the Fathers 
for judges in religion ; and to whom consequently 
they ought not, according to the law r s of legitimate 
controversy, to adduce for the proof of any point in 
debate, any other principles than what they admit : 
it is evident that they attribute to the Fathers any 
thing but such an authority. For in their Confession 
of Faith* they declare, in the very beginning of it, 
that they hold the Scriptures to be the rule of their 
faith : and as for all other ecclesiastical writings, al- 
though they consider them useful, yet do they not 

* Confess, de Foi des Eglis. Ref. de Fran. Art, 4. [With this 
agree all the Protestant Confessions. — Ed. Bd. or Pub.] 



AS JUDGES IN POINTS OF RELIGION. 343 

conceive that a man may safely build any article of 
faith upon them. And indeed, since they believe (as 
they tell you immediately afterwards,) that the Scrip- 
ture contains all things necessary, both for the service 
of God, and the salvation of men, they have no need 
of any other judge, and should in vain have recourse 
to the writings of the ancients; the authority whereof, 
however great it be, is still much less, both in itself 
and also in respect of us, than that of the Bible. 

In the next place, they seriously profess that their 
intent is to reform the Christian doctrine according to 
this rule, and to retain firmly whatever articles of 
faith are therein delivered, and to reject constantly 
all those that are not there found laid down, however 
high and eminent the authority be, that shall rescind 
the one or establish the other in the belief of men: 
"It is not lawful (say they) for men, nor yet for the 
angels themselves, either to add to, or diminish from, 
or to alter it; neither may antiquity, nor customs, nor 
multitude, nor judgments, nor human wisdom, nor de- 
finitive sentences, nor edicts, nor decrees, nor councils, 
nor visions, nor miracles, be brought in opposition to it : 
but on the contrary, rather all other things ought to 
be examined, regulated, and reformedby it."* These 
are their own words. If therefore they will not de- 
part from this their belief, which is, as it were, the 
foundation and key of their w T hole reformation; they 
cannot receive the Fathers who lived in the second, 
third, and fourth, and in the following centuries, as 
judges, nor yet absolutely and simply as witnesses, in 
the points of faith. For they all hold that that pure, 
simple, and holy doctrine which was taught and 
preached by the Apostles at the beginning of Chris- 
tianity, and delivered over to us by themselves in the 
New Testament, has been by little and little altered 
and corrupted; time, which changes all tilings, con- 

* Confesa d< . Ref. de Fran. Art. •">. 



344 THE FATHERS ARE NOT ACKNOWLEDGED 

tinually mixing with it some corruption or other: 
sometimes a Jewish or a Heathenish opinion, and 
sometimes again some peculiar observation; other 
times some superstitious ceremony or other; whilst 
one building upon the foundation with stubble, an- 
other with hay, a third with wood, the body seems 
at length by little and little, to have become quite 
different from what it anciently was; we having, in- 
stead of a palace of gold and of silver, a house built 
of plaster, stone, wood, and mud, and the like poor 
materials. In like manner (say they) as we see that 
brooks of water, the further distant they are from 
their springs, the more filth they contract, and the 
more does their water lose its first purity. As a man, 
the more he grows in years, the more does that native 
simplicity which appeared in him in his infancy de- 
cay ; his body and his mind are changed, and he is so 
much altered by little and little, through study and 
art, that at length he seems to be entirely another 
man. In like manner (say they) has it fared with 
Christianity. And here they urge that notable pas- 
sage out of Paul, in his second epistle to the Thessa- 
lonians, where he speaks of a great falling away, 
which then in his time began already to work secretly 
and insensibly, but was not to break forth till a long 
time after; as you see it is in all great things, whether 
in nature, or in the affairs and occurrences that hap- 
pen to mankind, which are all conceived and hatched 
slowly, and by degrees, and are sometimes a whole 
age before they are brought forth. 

Now according to this hypothesis, which, as I con- 
ceive, is equally common to all Protestants, the doc- 
trine of the Church must necessarily have suffered 
some alteration in the second age of Christianity, by 
admitting the mixture of some new matter into its 
faith and discipline: and so likewise in the third age 
some other corruption must necessarily have crept in: 
and so in the fourth, fifth, and the rest that follow; 



AS JUDGES IN TOINTS OF RELIGION. 345 

the Christian religion continually losing something f 
its original purity and simplicity, and on the other 
side still contracting all along some new impurities, 
till at length it came to the highest degree of corrup- 
tion: in which condition, they say, they found it; and 
have now at last, by the guidance of the Scriptures, 
restored it to the self-same state wherein it was at the 
beginning; and have, as it were, fixed it again upon 
its true and proper hinge, from whence, partly by the 
ignorance and partly by the fraud of men, during the 
space of so many ages together, it had by little and 
little been removed. This therefore being their opin- 
ion, they cannot recognize, as the rule of all their 
doctrine, the writings of any of the Fathers who lived 
from the Apostles' time down to ours, without betray- 
ing and contradicting themselves. For according to 
what they maintain, on the progress of corruption in 
religion, there has been some alteration in the Chris- 
tian doctrine, both in the second, third, and all follow- 
ing ages. And then again, according to what they 
conceive and believe of their own reformation, their 
doctrine is the very same that was in the time of the 
Apostles, as being taken immediately out of their 
books. If therefore they should examine it by what 
the Fathers of the second century believed, there must 
necessarily be something found in the doctrine of the 
Fathers which is not in theirs: and the difference will 
be much greater, if the comparison be made between 
it and the doctrine of the third, fourth, and the follow- 
ing ages; in all which, according to their hypothesis, 
corruption has continually increased. For if their 
doctrines were in every respect conformable to each 
other, and the one had neither more nor less than 
the other, there must necessarily then follow one of 
these two things; namely, that either this corruption, 
which they presappose to be in the faith and di 
pline of the Church, is not that mystery which worked 
in Bt« Paul , that their reformation is 

80 



346 THE FATHERS ARE NOT ACKNOWLEDGED 

not the pure and simple doctrine of the Apostles: the 
members of which division are contradictory to those 
two positions, which, as we have said, they unani- 
mously maintain. Therefore, to avoid this contra- 
diction, it concerns them constantly to persevere in 
that which they profess is their belief, in their con- 
fession of faith: to wit, that there are no ecclesiastical 
writings whatsoever, that are of sufficient authority 
to be safely built upon, and made the judges of faith; 
and that the Holy Scripture is the only rule by which 
all these things are to be examined. And this is that 
which they all agree upon (as far as I have either 
read or known,) as any one may see in the books of 
Calvin, Bucer, Melancthon, Luther, Beza, and the 
rest; who all rely upon the authority of the Scriptures 
only; and in no case admit the authority of the 
Fathers, as a sufficient ground whereon to build any 
article of their belief. 

It is true, I confess, that some of their first authors, 
as Bucer, Peter Martyr, and Jewel of Salisbury, and 
in a manner all the later writers also, allege the testi- 
monies of the Fathers; but (if you but mark it) it is 
only by way of confutation, and not of establishing 
anything: they do it only to overthrow the opinions 
of the Church of Rome, and not to strengthen their 
own. For though they hold that the doctrine of the 
Fathers is not so pure as that of the Apostles; yet do 
they withal believe that it is much purer than that 
which is at this day taught by the Church of Rome; 
the purity of doctrine having continually decayed 
and the impurity of it increased, the further they are 
removed from the time of the Apostles, and the nearer 
they approach towards the afore-mentioned falling 
away spoken of, as they say, by Paul. 

Although the Protestants allow the Scriptures alone 
for the true foundation of their faith, yet they account 
the writings of the Fathers to be necessary, first of all 
for proving this decay which they say has happened 



AS JUDGES IN POINTS OF RELIGION. 347 

in Christianity; and secondly, for making it appear 
that the opinions which their adversaries now main- 
tain were not in those days brought into any form, 
but were as yet only in embryo. As for example, 
transubstantiation was not as yet an article of faith; 
notwithstanding they long ago did innocently, and 
not foreseeing what the issue might prove to be, be- 
lieve certain things, out of which (being afterwards 
glossed over by passing through several languages) 
transubstantiation was at length concocted. So like- 
wise the supremacy of the Pope had at that time no 
place in the belief of men ; although those small threads 
and root-strings, from whence this vast and wonder- 
ful power first sprang, long since appeared in the 
world. 

The like may be said of the greatest part of these 
other points, which the Protestants will not by any 
means receive. And that this is their resolution, 
appears evidently by those many books which they 
have written on this subject, wherein they show his- 
torically the whole progress of this decay in Chris- 
tianity, as well in its faith as in its polity and disci- 
pline. And truly this their design seems to be very 
sufficient and satisfactory. For, seeing that they pro- 
pose nothing positively, and as an article of faith ne- 
iry to salvation, which may not easily and plain- 
ly be proved out of the Scriptures ; they have no need 
to make use of any other principle for the demonstra- 
tion of the truth of it. 

Furthermore, seeing that those positive articles of 
faith which they believe are in a manner all of them 
received and confessed by the Church of Rome, as we 
have -aid before in the preface to this treatise, there 
is no need of troubling a man's self to prove the same; 
3 which both parties are agreed upon, not 
requiring to be proved, but being always presupposed 
in all disputations^ Yet, if any one has a wish to be 
informed what the belief of the Fathers was on the 



348 THE FATHERS ABE NOT ACKNOWLEDGED 

said articles, it is easy for them to show that they also 
believed all of them, as well as themselves; as for ex- 
ample, that there is a God, a Christ, a salvation, a 
sacrament of baptism, a sacrament of the Eucharist, 
and the like truths; the greatest part of which we for- 
merly set down in the beginning of this discourse. 

And as for those other articles, which are proposed 
to the world, by the Church of Rome, it is sufficient 
for them that they are able to answer the arguments 
which are brought to prove them, and to make it by 
this means appear that they have not any sure ground 
at all, and consequently neither may nor ought to be 
received into the faith of Christians. And this is the 
use that the Protestants make of the Fathers; show- 
ing that they did not hold the said articles, as the 
Church of Rome does at this day. So that their 
alleging the Fathers to this purpose only, and indeed 
their whole practice in these disputes, declares evi- 
dently enough, that they conceive not the belief of the 
Church of Rome to be so perfectly and exactly con- 
formable to that of antiquity, especially of the first 
four or five ages; which accords very well with their 
hypothesis, regarding the corruption of the Christian 
doctrine. Yet no one can conclude from hence, that 
they allow of the authority of the Fathers as a suffi- 
cient foundation to ground any article of faith upon ; 
for this is repugnant both to their doctrine, and to 
the protestation which they on all occasions make 
expressly to the contrary. I cannot therefore but 
wonder at the proceeding of some of our modern au- 
thors, who in their disputations with the Protestants 
endeavour to prove the articles of their faith b}' testi- 
monies brought out of the Fathers; whereas the Pro- 
testants never go about to make good their own 
opinions, but only to overthrow those of their adver- 
saries, by urging the Fathers' testimonies. For since 
the members of the Church of Rome maintain, that 
the Church neither has, nor can possibly err in points 



AS JUDGES IN POINTS OF RELIGION 349 

of faith, and that its belief in matters of faith has 
always been the same that it is at this day; it is suffi- 
cient for the Protestant to show, by comparing the 
doctrine of the ancient Fathers with that of tho 
Church of Rome, that there is a great difference be- 
tween them. Nor does this in any wise bind them to 
believe throughout whatsoever the Fathers believed; 
it being evident, according to their hypothesis, that 
some errors may have crept into their belief; though 
certainly not such, nor so gross, as have been since 
entertained by the Church in the ages succeeding. 
We shall conclude therefore that the Protestants 
acknowledge not, either in the Fathers or in their 
writings, any such absolute authority, as renders 
them supreme judges in matters of religion, from 
whom no appeal can be made. Whence it will follow, 
that even though the Fathers had such an authority; 
yet could not their definitive sentence put an end to 
any of our controversies; and therefore it concerns 
the Church of Rome to have recourse to some other 
way of proof, if she intends to prevail upon her ad- 
versaries to receive the aforesaid articles. 

What will you say now, if we make it appear to 
you that the Church of Rome itself does not allow 
tli.tt the Fathers have any such authority? I sup- 
pose that if we are able to do this, there is no man 
so perverse as not to confess, that this proceeding of 
theirs, in grounding their articles of faith upon tho 
sayings of the Fathers, is not only very insufficient, 
but very inconvenient also. For how can it ever bo 
endured, that a man who would persuade you to the 
belief of anything, should for that purpose make uso 
of the testimony of some such persons as neither you 
nor himself believe to be infallibly true, and so fit to" 
be trusted? Let us now therefore see whether the 

arch of Rome really has so great an esteem for tho 
Fathers as she would be thought to have by this pro- 
ceeding. 



350 THE FATHERS ARE NOT ACKNOWLEDGED 

Certainly several of the learned of that party have 
upon divers occasions let us see plain enough, that 
they make no more account of them than the Protest- 
ants do. For whereas these require that the autho- 
rity of the Fathers be grounded upon that of the 
Scripture; and therefore receive nothing that they de- 
liver as infallibly true, unless it be grounded upon the 
Scripture, passing by or rejecting whatsoever they 
propose either besides or contrary to the sense of the 
Scripture: the other in like manner will have the 
judgment of the Fathers depend upon that of the 
Church then being in every age; and approve, pass 
by, or condemn all such opinions of theirs, as the 
Church either approves, passes by, or condemns. So 
that although they differ in this, that the one attri- 
butes the supremacy to the Scripture, and the other 
to the Church of their age ; yet they both agree in this, 
that both of them equally deprive the Fathers of the 
same; insomuch that they both spend their time un- 
profitably enough, whilst they trouble themselves in 
pleading their cause before this inferior court, where 
the wrangling and cunning tricks of the law have so 
much place; where the judgments are hard to be ob- 
tained, and yet harder to be understood; and, when 
all is done, are not supreme, but are such as both par- 
ties believe they may lawfully appeal from ; whereas 
they might, if they pleased, let alone these trouble- 
some and useless shifts, and come at once before the 
supreme tribunal; whether it be that of the Scriptures 
or of the Church; where the suits are not so long, and 
where the subtlety of pleading is of much less use ; 
where the sentences also are more clear and express, 
and (which is the chief thing of all) such as we can- 
not appeal from. But that we may not be thought to 
impose this opinion upon the Romish doctors unjustly, 
let us hear them speak themselves. 

Cardinal Cajetan, in his preface on the five books 
of Moses, speaking of his own Annotations, says 



AS JUDGES IN POINTS OF RELIGION. 351 

thus: "If you chance there to meet with any new 
exposition, which is agreeable to the text, and not 
contrary either to the Scriptures or to the doctrine of 
the Church, although perhaps it differs from that which 
is given by the whole current of the holy doctors; I 
shall desire the readers that they would not too hastily 
reject it, but that they would rather censure charita- 
bly. Let them remember to give every man his due: 
there are none but the authors of the Holy Scriptures 
alone, to whom we attribute such authority, as that 
we ought to believe whatsoever they have written. 
But as for others (says Augustine,) of however great 
sanctity and learning they may have been, I so read 
them, that I do not believe what they have written 
merely because they have written it. Let no man 
therefore reject a new exposition of any passage of 
Scripture, under pretence that it is contrary to what 
the ancient Doctors gave; but let him rather dili- 
gently examine the text, and the context of the Scrip- 
ture; and if he finds that it accords well therewith, 
let him praise God, who has not tied the exposition 
of the Scriptures to the sense of the ancient Doctors, 
but to the whole Scripture itself, under the censure of 
the Catholic Church."* Melchior Canus, bishop of 
the Canary Islands, having before declared himself, 
according as Augustine has done, saying that the 

* Si quando occturrit qovus Bensus tcxtui consonus, ncc a sacra. 

tura, oec ab ecclesiae doctrina dissonus, quamvis a torrente 

doctorum Bacrorum alienus, rogo lectores omnea ne procipitea <lc- 

praebeant oeusorea. Memiaerinl jus Bnum 

unicuique tril jolis sacra Scriptures auctoribua reservata 

iritae lure <'-r, at Lded Bic credamus esse, quia ipsi it:i scripse- 

ruut. Alios autem (inquit Augustinus) itn Lego, at quantafibet 

> doctrinaque prapolleant, noa Lded ored m quia 

ipei ■ !it. Nullus itaque deteatetur novum S. Scripture 

on, ex li"<' « t u < » 1 dissonal priacis doctoribus; Bed Bcrutetur 

contextum Scripture, <-t si quadrare iuyene- 

rit, laudet Deum, qui Don alligavit expositionem 8. Soripturarum 

►rum docf I Scriptura ipsi Integra sub Ca- 

leusura. — Thorn, <>• prof, in 

at. 



352 THE FATHERS ARE NOT ACKNOWLEDGED 

Holy Scriptures only are exempt from all error, fur- 
ther adds: "But there is no man, however holy or 
learned he be, who is not sometimes deceived, who 
does not sometimes dote, or sometimes slip."* Then 
adducing some of those examples which we have be- 
fore produced, he concludes in these words : " We 
should therefore read the ancient Fathers with all due 
reverence; yet, as they were but men, with discrimi- 
nation and judgment."f A little afterwards he says, 
" that the Fathers sometimes fail, and bring forth 
monsters, out of the ordinary course of nature."! And 
in the same place he says that "to follow the ancients 
in all things, and to tread everywhere in their steps, 
as little children use to do in play, is nothing else but 
to disparage our own parts, and to confess ourselves 
to have neither judgment nor skill enough for search- 
ing into the truth. No, let us follow them as guides, 
but not as masters." 

"It is very true (says Ambrosius Oatharinus in like 
manner) that the sayings and writings of the Fathers 
have not of themselves any such absolute authority, 
as that we are bound to assent to them in all things. "§ 

The Jesuits also themselves inform us sufficiently 
in many places, that they do not reckon themselves 
so tied to follow the judgment of the Fathers in all 
things, as people may imagine. 

Petavius, in his annotations upon Epiphanius, con- 
fesses freely, "that the Fathers were men; that they 



* Cseteroqui nemo quantumvis eruditus, et sanctus, non inter- 
dum allucinatur, non alicubi coecutit, non quandoque labitur. — 
Melch. Can. loc. Theol. I. 7, c. 3, num. 4. 

-j- Legendum itaque a nobis Patres veteres cum reverentia qui- 
dem, sed ut homines, cum delectu atque judicio. — Id. Ibid. 

% Reliqui vero scriptores sancti inferiores et humani sunt, defiei- 
untque interdum, ac monstrum quandoque pariunt, praeter conve- 
nientem ordinem institutumque naturae. — Ibid. num. 7. 

$Verissimum ergo est, quod sanctorum dicta, vel scripta, in se 
non sunt firmee auctoritatis, ut in singulis teneamur illis praebere 
assensum. — Ambros. Catharin. lib. 4. Annot. in Cajet. p. 273. 



AS JUDGES IN POINTS OF RELIGION. 353 

had their failings; and that we ought not maliciously 
to search after their errors, that we may lay them 
open to the world; but that we may take the liberty 
to note them whenever they come in our way, to the 
end that none be deceived by them: and that we 
ought no more to maintain or defend their errors 
than we ought to imitate their vices, if at least they 
had any."* And again, " that many things have 
slipped from them, which if tKey were examined ac- 
cording to the exact rule of truth, could not be recon- 
ciled to any good sense :"f and that he himself has 
observed, " that they are out sufficiently, whenever 
they speak of such points of faith as were not at all 
called in question in their time. "J To say the truth, 
he often rejects both their opinions and their exposi- 
tions, and sometimes very uncivilly too, as we have 
noticed before, speaking of his notes upon Epipha- 
nius.§ In one place, (the authority of some of the 
Fathers which contradicted his opinion on the exposi- 
tion of a certain passage in Luke, being objected 
against him) never taking the least notice of their tes- 
timonies, he answers — " That we ought to interpret 
and expound the Fathers by Luke, rather than Luke 
by them; because they cannot herein say anything 
but what they have received from Luke."| This in 
my judgment was very judiciously spoken; and be- 

* Nos ea. qua par est, moderatione in divinorum hominum, sod 
hominum, . ac lapsus non tain uiquirimus, quam oblatoi 

ulti-6. ac vcl invitis occurrentes, no cni fraud] Bint, patefacimue; 
tueii autem, ac defendere, uihilo magia quam coram vitia, si quae 
fiU'rint imitari debemus. — Pet at), in Epiph. />. _!<>•>. 

Quanquam multa Mint a lanctissimie patribus, praBserthn a 
Chryaoatomo in Tlr.inilii- &a] ana, qua n ad exactse reritatia regu- 
mmodare voluerifl, boni census Lnauia videbuntur. — Id. in 
J . 2 1 L 

.Ibid. p. 286. J Supr. e. 1 J. 

[uod eertorum patrum opponatur auctoritas, qui Don 
aliud afnrmare possunt, qnam quod ei Luca didicerunt, Deque esi 
ulla ratio cur ex Qlormn Terbia Lucam iuterpretemur pfetiua quam 
ex Luca quae ab illi= a^cveiuri vidcntur. — Fctav. in Epiph, j>. 110. 



354 THE FATHERS ARE NOT ACKNOWLEDGED 

sides exactly agrees with what Augustine said before, 
and which may very well be applied to the greatest 
part of our differences; in all of which the Fathers 
could not know anything, except what they learned 
out of the Scriptures: so that their testimonies in these 
cases ought, according to the opinion of this learned 
Jesuit, to be expounded and interpreted by the Scrip- 
tures, and not the Scriptures by them. And this is 
the language of all the rest of them. 

Maldonate, as bitter an enemy of the Protestants 
as ever was, having delivered the judgment of some 
of the Fathers, who were of opinion that the sons of 
Zebedee answered not so rightly, when, being asked 
by our Saviour, whether or not they were able to 
drink of his cup and to be baptized with the baptism 
that he was baptized with, they said unto him, that 
they were able; adds, "that for his part, he believes 
that they answered well."* In another place, ex- 
pounding Matthew xix. 11, having first brought in 
the interpretations of various, and indeed in a man- 
ner of all, the Fathers, he says at last, " that he could 
not be persuaded to understand the passage as they 
did !"f Here you are to observe by the way, that the 
meaning of this passage is still controverted at this 
day. How then can this man conceive that the Pro- 
testants should think themselves bound necessarily to 
follow the judgment of this major part of the Fathers, 
which they themselves make so light of? In another 
place, where he has occasion to speak of those words 
of our Saviour, which are at this day in dispute 
among us, "the gates of hell shall not prevail 
against it," he is yet more positive, and says, "the 
sense of these words is not rightly given by any au- 

* Malo ego credere, nee temere, nee inscienter, sed amanter et 
veie respondisse, &c. — Maldonat. in Matth. xx. 22. 

f Quam interpretationem adduci non possum ut sequar, &c. — Id. 
in Matth. xix. 11. 



AS JUDGES IN TOINTS OF RELIGION. 355 

tlior that I can remember, except Hilary/'* Bo like- 
wise upon Matthew xi. 11, where it is said, "the 
least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than John 
the Baptist;" he says, "the opinions of the Fathers 
upon this passage are very diflferent; and to speak 
freely, none of them pleases me."f In like manner, 
upon the sixth chapter of John; "Ammonius, (saith 
he,) Cyril, Theophylact, and Euthymius, answer that 
all are not drawn, because all are not worthy. But 
this comes too near Pelagianism."J 

Salmeron, a famous Jesuit, says thus: "Our adver- 
sarsaries bring arguments from the antiquity of the 
Fathers; which I confess has always been of more 
esteem than novelty. I answer, that every age has 
yielded to antiquity, &c. But yet we must take the 
liberty to say, that the later Doctors have been more 
quicksighted."§ And again, "Against all this great 
multitude, which they bring against us, we answer 
out of the word of God; Thou shalt not follow a mul- 
titude to do evil; neither shalt thou speak in a cause, 
to decline after many, to wrest judgment."| 

Michael Medina, disputing at the council of Trent, 
on the superiority of a bishop over a priest, the 

* Quorum verborum sensus non videtur mini esse, quern omnes, 
prseter Ililarium, quoa legisse memiui, auctores putant. — Maldo- 
xvi. 18. 
f Habet ex multis opinionibus quam eligai lector; Bed si meam 
qnoqiM Bententium avet audire, libera Patebor, in nulla prorsus 
carum meum qualecunque judicium acquiescere. — Id. in Matth. 
xi. 11. 

J Ammonias, Cyrillus, Theophylactus, et Euthymius. respondent, 

■on omnes trahi, quia non omnes digni sunt ; quod nimia afnne est 

ri. — Id. in JoK vi. 44. 

^omenta petnnt a Doctornm antiqnitate, cui semper 

major bonor esi habitufi qnam novitatibus. Respondetnr, quamli- 

antiqnitati sempei < 1 « • 1 1 1 1 i — e, &c. Bed illud efferimns 

quo juniores, eo p< »e Doctores. — 8almer. in Ep. ad 

J: . 

tint mnltitndinem, reap 
mns i l. xxiii.i *• lii judicio plnrimorom aonao- 

mtenti&dj at a\ -." — lb. col. 1. 



356 THE FATHERS ARE NOT ACKNOWLEDGED 

authority of Jerome and Augustine being produced 
against him, who both held that the difference be- 
twixt them was not of divine but only of positive and 
ecclesiastical right, answers before the whole congre- 
gation, "that it is no marvel that they, and some 
others also of the Fathers, fell into this heresy ; this 
point being not then clearly determined."* 

That no one may doubt of the honesty of the his- 
torian who relates this, only hear Bellarmine, who 
testifies, " that Medina assures us that Jerome was, 
in this point, of Aerius's opinion; and that not only 
he, but also Ambrose, Augustine, Sedulius, Primasius, 
Chrysostom, Theodoret, (Ecumenius, and Theophy- 
lact, all maintained the same heresy."f 

We need not here adduce any more examples: for 
only read their commentaries, their disputations, and 
their other discourses, and you will find them almost 
in every page either rejecting or correcting the Fathers. 
But I must not pass by the testimony of Cornelius 
Mussus, bishop of Bitonto, who indeed is more ingen- 
uous and clear than all the rest. " Rome (says 
he) to whom shall we go for divine counsels, unless to 
those persons to whose trust the dispensation of the 
divine mysteries has been committed? We are there- 
fore to hear him, who is to us instead of God, in 
things that concern God, as God himself. Certainly 
for my own part (that I may speak my mind freely) 
in things that belong to the mysteries of faith, I had 
rather believe one single Pope than a thousand Au- 
gustines, Jeromes, or Gregories, that I may not speak 
of Richards, Scotusses, and Williams; for I believe 
and know that the Pope cannot err in matters of faith, 
because the authority of determining all such things 

* Pietr. Soave Pol. hist. nel. concil. Trident. 1. 7. p. 575. 

f Michael Medina in lib. 1. de sacr. horn. orig. et contin. c. 5, 
affirmat &. Hieronymum idem omnino cum Aerianis sensisse: neque 
solum Hieronymum in ea hseresi fuisse, sed etiam Ambrosium, 
Augustinum, Sedulium, Primasium, Chrysostomum, Theodoretam, 
(Ecurnenium, et Theophylactum. — JBellarm. de Cler. I. 1. cap. 15. 



AS JUDGES IN TOINTS OF RELIGION. 357 

as are points of faith, resides in the Pope."* This 
passage may seem to some, to be both a very bold and 
a very indiscreet one: but yet whoever shall but exa- 
mine the matter seriously, and as it is in itself, and 
not as it is in its outward appearances only, which are 
contrived for the most part only to amuse the simpler 
sort of people, I am confident he will find that this 
author has both most ingenuously and most truly 
given the world an account in what esteem the Church 
of Rome holds the Fathers. For since these men 
maintain that the Pope is infallible, and confess withal 
that the Fathers may have erred; who sees not that 
they set the Pope much above the Fathers? Nor may 
it here be replied, that they do not all of them hold 
that the Pope is infallible. For, besides that those 
among them who contradict this opinion are both the 
least and the least considerable part also of the Church 
of Rome, these very men attribute to the Church ex- 
isting, in every age, this right of infallibility, which 
they will not allow the Pope : insomuch that a coun- 
cil now called together, is, according to their account, 
of much greater authority than the ancient Fathers. 
So that the only difference between these men and the 
forementioned Italian bishop, is, that whereas they 
will have the authority of the ancient Fathers to sub- 
mit to the whole body of modern bishops assembled in 
a general council; he will have their authority to be 
Less than that of a single Pope alone. All that can 
be found fault with in that speech of his, is, perhaps, 

* A qno, I!' ma, qnwrenda sunt diyina oonsilia, ftiei :ii> illis, 

riorum Dei dispensatio credita est? Quem ergo pre 

1 1 > ] mu8, in hi i mum qnicquid i; I tanquam 

I) . d b . -. I o . . i ■) ji!u i u 1 1 i Bummo 

Pontifici it, quam mille 

tie dicam Richardi . 
1 • ammus 1 ' 

rniinandi 
;'. BiUmt. 

31 



358 THE FATHERS ARE NOT ACKNOWLEDGED 

his hyperbolical expression, of a thousand Augustines, 
Jeromes, and Gregories, all which joined together, he, 
in too disdainful a manner, casts down beneath the 
feet of one single Pope. But this height of expres- 
sion may be somewhat excused in him, considering 
that such excesses as these are very common with all 
high and free-minded persons. 

But the practice of the Church of Rome itself will 
be able to inform us more truly and clearly what 
esteem they have of antiquity. For if we ought to 
stand to the Fathers, and not to depart from anything 
they have authorized, nor to ordain anything which 
they were ignorant of, how comes it to pass, that we 
at this day see so many various observances and cus- 
toms which were observed by the ancients, now quite 
laid aside? And whence is it that we find in antiquity 
no mention at all of many things which are now in 
great request amongst us? There are as it were three 
principal parts in religion; namely, points of belief, of 
ceremony, and of discipline. We shall run over lightly 
all three, and so far as is necessary only for our pre- 
sent purpose; that so we may let the world see, that 
in every one of these three parts they have both abol- 
ished and established many things expressly against 
the authority of the ancients. 

As for the first of these, we have already given the 
reader some specimens only in the preceding chap- 
ters. For we have seen that the opinion of the great- 
est part of the ancient Church on the state of the 
soul, till the time of the resurrection, which besides is 
at this day also maintained by the Greek Church, 
was condemned not much above two hundred years 
since, by the Church of Rome, at the council of Flo- 
rence; and a quite contrary belief there established, 
as an article of the Christian faith. 

We have seen besides, that the opinion of the Fa- 
thers of the primitive Church, and even down as far 
as to the end of the sixth century after our Saviour 



AS JUDGES IN POINTS OF RELIGION. 359 

Christ and afterward, was that the eucharist was as 
necessary to salvation as baptism ; and that conse- 
quently it was to be administered to little children. 
But for all this, the council of Trent has condemned 
this opinion as an error in faith; anathematizing, by a 
canon made expressly for that purpose, all those who- 
ever should maintain the same. "Let him be accursed 
(say they) whoever shall say that the eucharist is 
necessary for little children before they come to years 
of discretion."* That the Fathers might not take 
offence hereat, as having so fearful an affront put 
upon them; these men have endeavoured to persuade 
both them and others, that they never did believe 
that, which themselves have most clearly, and in ex- 
press terms, protested that they did believe, as we 
have before made it appear: which is, to double the 
injury upon them rather than to make them any repa- 
ration for it; seeing that they deal with them now, 
not as heretics only, but as fools also, whom a man 
may at pleasure persuade that they do not believe 
that which they really do believe. 

We have abundantly heard, out of Jerome's mouth, 
how the opinion of the Millennarians was of old main- 
tained by several of the ancient Fathers; which yet is 
now condemned as an error in faith. And indeed the 
number of these kind of differences in opinion is 
almost infinite. 

It was accounted no error in those days to believe 
that the soul was derived from the father down to 
the son, according to the ordinary course of genera- 
tion : but this opinion would now be accounted a 
heresy. 

The ancients held, "that it would be opposing the 
authority of the Scriptures, if we should hang up the 



lixerit, parvulis, anteqnam ad ftnnoa discretionie per- 
jaenienl necessarian) esse euchaxistitt communioncm, anathema ^it. 
— ConciL Trident* Sku* 21. Qan< 



860 THE FATHERS ARE NOT ACKNOWLEDGED 

picture of any man in the Church,"* an( i " that we 
ought not to have any pictures in our churches, that 
that which we worship and adore be not painted upon 
a wall."f Now the Council of Trent has ordained 
quite the contrary, and says: "That we ought to 
have and to keep, especially in our churches, the 
images of Christ, of the Virgin the mother of God, 
and of the other saints; and that we are to yield unto 
them all due honour and veneration."! 

All the ancient Fathers, § as far as we can learn 
out of their writings, believed that the blessed Virgin 
Mary was conceived in original sin. If now the 
Fathers of the council of Trent accounted them to be 
the judges of faith, why did they fear to be thought 
to hold their opinion on this point? For, having de- 
livered their definite judgment in a decree there 
passed to this purpose, and declared that this sin, 
which has spread itself over the whole mass of man- 
kind by propagation and not by imitation, has seized 
on every person in particular; they at length conclude, 
"that their intention is not to comprehend within 
this number the blessed and unspotted Virgin Mary, 
the mother of God:"|| which words of theirs it is im- 
possible so to expound, that they shall not in plain 
terms give the lie to all the Fathers. For if they 

* Ctim ergo haec viclissem in ecclesia Christi contra auctoritatem 
S crip tur arum, hominis pendentem imaginem, &c. — Epiphan. ep. ad 
Joh. Hierosol. t. 2 p. 317. c. 2. 

f Placuit picturas in ecclesia esse nondebere, ne quod colituraut 
adoratnr, in parietibus depingatnr. — Cone. Eliber, Can. 36. 

J Imagines porro Christi, Deiparae Virginis, et aliorum Sancto- 
rum, in templis prsesertim habendas et retinendas, eisque debitum 
honorem et venerationem impertiendam. — Concil. Trid. Sess. 25. 
Decreto de Invocat. SfC. Sanctorum. 

§ Ambros. August. Chrysost. &c. de quibus vide Melch. Canum 
de ioc. Theolog. 1. 7, num. 3. 

|| Declarat tamen hsecipsa Sancta Synodus, non esse susb intenti- 
oms comprehendere in hoc decreto, ubi de peccato originali agitur, 
B. et immaculatam, Virginem Mariam, Dei genitricem.— Cone. 
Trid. Sess. 5 Decreto de Pecc. Origin. 



AS JUDGES IN POINTS OF RELIGION. 361 

mean, by these words, the Virgin Mary was conceived 
without sin, they decidedly establish an opinion con- 
tradictory to that of the Fathers: which is the gross- 
est manner that can be of giving them the lie. If 
they mean here no more than this, (which sense yet 
their words will scarcely be ever made to bear,) that 
it is not known, as a certain truth, that the Virgin 
Mary was conceived in sin ; they, however honestly 
say, in plain terms, that these good men affirmed as 
true that which is yet doubtful, and maintained as 
certain that which was but problematical only and 
questionable. 

The council of Laodicea, which is inserted in the 
code of the Church Universal, puts not into the ca- 
non* of the Old Testament any more than twenty-two 
books; excluding by this means out of this number 
the book of Tobit, Judith, the book of Wisdom, Eccle- 
siasticus, and the two books of the Maccabees. Meli- 
tof bishop of Sardis, Origen,J Cyril of Jerusalem, § 
Gregory Nazianzen,|| Hilary,^" and Epiphanius,** all 
do the same. Athanasius,ff Ruffinus, J J and Jerome, §§ 
expressly reject these very books from the canon. And 
yet the aforesaid council of Trent "anathematizes all 
those who will not receive, as holy and canonical, 
all these books, with every part of the same as they 
are wont to be read in the Church, and as they are 
found in the old Latin edition, commonly called the 
vulgar translation. "|||| 

ne. Laod. Can. 59, 60. Cod.Grrcc. Can. Bocl. Fnivcrs. Can. 163. 
f M«-iit. Sard, apud Euseb. Ili.-t. Eccles. lib 4 c. -7. 
+ Origen. apud Euseb. Bist. Eccl. 1. 6. c. 26. et in Pliilocal. c. 3. 
J i 'vni. Bier< .4. 

oz. Cann. 83. t. 2. p. 08. 
• B it. in PaaL foL 2. 

** Epiphan. 1. de ponder, etmens. t. 2. ]>. 102. 

. festal, t. 2. ].. ■ 8yn< pa. Script, p. 58. 

} + Ruffic Ex] . Symb. inter opera Cypr. p. 562. 

. el ProL in lib. Salom. ad Paul el Eu- 
Btach. et Prol. in 111 - I Chron. el Beliod. e1 profat. in Badr. 

, cum oniniijUi buU partibuSj 
31* 



362 THE FATHERS ARE NOT ACKNOWLEDGED 

Besides the affront which they have offered to so 
many of the ancient and most eminent among the 
Fathers, and indeed to the whole primitive Church 
itself, which received this canon of Laodicea amongst 
its universal rules, they have also established a posi- 
tion here which was not till then so much as ever 
heard of in Christendom; namely, that the old vulgar 
translation of the Bible is to be admitted as canonical 
and authentic in the Church of God. 

The hundred-and-fifty Fathers of the second gene- 
ral council, and the six hundred and thirty of the 
fourth, were all of them of opinion that the ancients 
had advanced the see of Rome above that of other 
bishops, by reason of the pre-eminence and temporal 
greatness of the city of Rome over other cities ; and 
for the same reason they also thought good to 
advance in like manner the throne of the patriarch of 
Constantinople to the same height with the former, 
by reason of the city where he resided being now 
arrived to the self-same height of dignity with Rome 
itself. Tov [levvoc KcovGTavTtvoizoXeto; kncaxoiiov, i%ecv 
za npecfftsca rq; Tipcf}; fiera tov vq; ^Pco/jltjq ircccrxorcoVj 
oca to ecvac aurrju vzav ^Pcofirjv. . . Concil. Constant. 
I. Can. 3. Kac yap tco Opovco tyj; Trpea^OTepa; 
^Poj/jltj;, 8ca to fiaacXeuscv TTjV tzoXcv zxscvrjv, ol naze pet; 
eixoTco; dTiooedcoxacrc Ta npscrftsca, &c. Trjv (SacrcXeca 
xac auyxkqTO) Tcptydeccray tzoXcv, xai tcdv cctov djcoXauooaav 
TZpzofcuov tyj npzafiuzepa fiaacXcdc ^Pco/jlyj^ xac iv toc; 
exxhnataGTcxot; w; execvqv [leyaXoveodac n pay fiacre. — 
Cone. Chalced. Can. 28. 

I assure you, that for all this he would now be 
Anathema Maranatha, whoever should go about to 
derive the supremacy of the Pope from any other 
original, than from — " Tu es Petrus" and " Pasce 
oves mem' 1 

prout in ecclesia Catholica legi consueverunt, et in veteri vulgata 
Latina editione habentur, pro sacris et canonicis non susceperit, &c. 
anathema esto. — Cone. Trident. Sess. 4. Deer, de Can. script. 



AS JUDGES IN POINTS OF RELIGION. 863 

The council of Trent anathematizes all those who 
deny that bishops are a higher order than priests:* 
and yet Jerome, f and divers others of the Fathers 
openly hold the doctrine. 

We have already told you, that the Church of 
Rome long since excommunicated the Greeks, because 
they held, that the Holy Ghost proceeds not from the 
Son, but from the Father only. And yet Theodoret, 
who expressly denied that the Holy Ghost proceeds 
from the Son, as we have shown in the preceding 
chapter, was received by the ancient Church, and in 
particular by Pope Leo, as a true Catholic bishop, 
without requiring him to declare himself any other- 
wise, or to give them any satisfaction on this point. 

Indeed we might enumerate many similar differ- 
ences between the Roman and the ancient Church: 
but these examples will suffice to show how the 
Church of Rome maintains that the authority of 
the opinions of the ancients ought to be accounted 
supreme. 

We shall proceed, in the next place, to say some- 
thing of the ceremonies in the Christian religion. 

The first of all is Baptism, which takes us out of 
nature's stock, and engrafts us into Jesus Christ. 
Now it was a custom heretofore in the ancient Church, 
to immerse those they baptized in the water; as 
Tertullian,$ Cyprian, § Epiphanius,|| and others tes- 
tify. And indeed they plunged them thus three 
times: as the same Tertullian^" and Jerome** inform 
us. This is still the practice both of the Greek and 

* Si qui* . &c. 
anathema sit.— < . Trid. . 2 . n. 7. 

ride supra lib. 1. c. alt. 
Mil. c. 8. 
.211, ubi ride PameL 
phan. Pan. Haer. 80. p. I 

• i • • iL lib. de Cor. Mil. o. 8, el lib. adv. 

». t. 2, p. L87. In l.ivacro tor 
caput mergitare. 



364 THE FATHERS ARE NOT ACKNOWLEDGED 

the Russian Church. Yet, this custom, which is both 
so ancient and universal, is now abolished by the 
Church of Rome. And this is the reason that the 
Muscovites* say, that the Latins are not rightly and 
duly baptized, because they use not this ceremony in 
their baptism, which they say is expressly enjoined 
them in the canons of Joannes the Metropolitan, 
whom they hold to have been a prophet. Indeed, 
Gregory the Greek monk, who was, notwithstanding, 
a great stickler for the union, in the council of 
Florence, yet confesses in his answer to the epistle 
of Mark, bishop of Ephesus, that it is necessary in 
baptism, that the persons to be baptized should be 
thrice dipped in the water.f At their coming out 
of the water, in the ancient Church, they gave them 
milk and honey to eat,J as the same authors witness ; 
and immediately after this they made them partakers 
also of the blessed communion, both great and small : 
whence the custom still remains in Ethiopia, of 
administering the eucharist to little children, and 
making them take down a small quantity of it, as 
soon as they are baptized. § 

What have these great adorers of antiquity now 
done with these ceremonies ? Where is the milk, or 
the honey, or the eucharist, which the ancient Fathers 
were wont to administer to all, immediately after 
baptism? Certainly these things, notwithstanding 
the practice of the ancients, have been now long 
since buried and forgotten at Rome. 

In ancient times they often deferred the baptizing 
both of infants and of others, as appears by the 
history of the emperors Constantine the Great,|| of 

* Cassand. 1. cle Bapt. Inf. p. 693. 

f Greg. Mon. Proteinic, in Apol. contr. ep. Marc. ep. 721. t. 4, 
Cone. gen. 'Or/ y.sv dvayKuiov Xvti km to ha. Tptw k-jltaJ'vo-^cv, &c. 

J Deincle egressos lactis et mellis prsGgustare concordiam. — Terlul. 
el Huron, ubi supr. 

\ Alvarez, in his voyage to Ethiopia. 

|| Euseb. de vita Constant. 1. 4. 



AS JUDGES IN POINTS OF RELIGION. 3G5 

Constantius,* of Theodosius,f of Valentinian, and of 
Gratian in Ambrose ;J and also by the Homilies of 
Gregory Nazianzen,§ and of Basil, || upon this sub- 
ject Some of the Fathers too were of opinion, 
that it is proper it should be deferred; for instance, 
Tertullian, as we have formerly noticed. 

How comes it to pass that there is not now so 
much as the least trace or footing of this custom to 
be found at this day in the Church of Rome? Nay, 
whence is it that they would regard a man with hor- 
ror, that should but attempt to put it in practice? 

I shall here forbear to speak of the times of admin- 
istering baptism, which was performed ordinarily in 
the ancient Church, only on the eves of Easter day, 
and of Whitsunday ; neither shall I say anything of 
the ceremony of the Paschal taper, and the albes, or 
white vestments that the newly baptized persons were 
used to wear all Easter week ;"^[ because it may be 
thought perhaps that these are too trivial; although, 
to say the truth, if we are to regard the authority of 
men, and not the reason of the things themselves, I 
do not see why all the rites should not still be retained, 
as well as those exorcisms, and renouncings of the 
devil and the world, with all its pomps and vanities, 
which, in imitation of antiquity, are at this day, 
though very improperly, acted by them over little in- 
fants, though only a day old. 

As for the eucharist, Cassander shows clearly that 
it was celebrated in the ancient Church with bread 
and wine, offered by the people:** and that the bread 
Wafl first broken into several pieces, and then conse- 
crated and distributed among the faithful. Notwith- 

* S hist Bool. L 8, o. 87. t 1,] - L *• c - G - 

-. I >rat de obit Valentin, t. 8, p. 9. 
-n/. Orat LO. 
!. homiL u\ v,±7r-ric-y row. 

■ ind. in hymno, p. 227, 228. 

** Ca&sand. in Liturg. c. 26. 



366 THE FATHERS ARE NOT ACKNOWLEDGED 

standing, the contrary use has now prevailed; nor do 
they consecrate any bread which is offered by the 
people, which was the ancient custom, but only little 
wafer cakes, made round in the form of a coin ; which 
yet is very sharply reproved, in the old exposition or 
the " Ordo Romanus"* &c. The same Cassander 
also gives us an account at large,f how in ancient 
times the canonical prayer, and the consecration of 
the eucharist, were read out with a loud voice, and 
in such a manner that the people might all of them 
be able to hear it, so that they might say Amen to it; 
whereas the priest now pronounces it with a very low 
voice,J so that none of the congregation can tell what 
he says; and hence it is, that this part of the liturgy 
is called secret. 

We have heretofore shown,§ that the ancient Fa- 
thers concealed, as carefully as they could, the mat- 
ter and the rites used in the celebration of this holy 
sacrament; which they never performed in presence 
either of the catechumens or of unbelievers. But 
now there is not any such care taken in this respect ; 
for they celebrate the eucharist openly and publicly, 
even before Jews, Pagans, or Mohammedans, without 
any more regard to these ancient rules, than if there 
had never been any such custom. And as if the de- 
sign of these men were to run counter to antiquity in 
all things, when the sacrament was concealed as much 
as possible, they show it now openly, and carry it 
publicly abroad every day through the streets, and 
sometimes also go in solemn procession with it: which 
custom of theirs is of very late standing among Chris- 
tians, and which heretofore would have looked not 
only very strange, but would have been accounted 
rather profane and unlawful. And thus have the 

* Apud Cassand. in Liturg. c. 26, p. 60. 

f Cassand. in Liturg. p. 63, 64, c. 28. 

J Cone. Trid. &ess. 22, c. 5, et can. 9. \ Lib. i. c. 5. 



AS JUDGES IX TOIXTS OF RELIGION. 367 

custom? and observations of the ancient Fathers been 
quite laid aside, and other new ones, which they never 
heard of, instituted in their place. 

The same Cassander also proves,* that in ancient 
times they celebrated the eucharist only in the pre- 
sence of those that were to communicate; and that 
all the rest withdrew. It is clear, that Chrysostorn 
very bitterly reproves those who would be present at 
the celebration of the eucharist without communica- 

tin s- 

Indeed we at this day see, in the Ethiopic liturgy, 
that the Gospel being read, the deacon cries aloud : 
" All you, that will not receive the sacrament, depart: 
withdraw, you catechumens." And again, after the 
creed is sung, he says to the people, " Let them that 
will not communicate, depart." But now-a-days, for 
the most part, none of those who are present at the 
celebration, communicate of it: they content them- 
selves with adoring the sacrament only, without 
partaking of it at all; whence you have this manner 
of expression: — "to hear mass;" and "to see mass." 
Chrysostorn says: "Whosoever shall stay here, and 
not participate of the mysteries, behaves himself like 
an impudent, shameless person. I beseech you, (says 
he) if any one that were invited to a feast, should 
come and sit down after he has washed his hands, 
and fitted himself to come to the table, and at length 
should forbear to touch any of those dishes which are 
served in upon it, would not this be a very great 
affront to him who invited him? Had he not better 
have forborne coming at all? It is the very same 
Case here. Thou hast come, and hast sung the hymn, 
and, seeing thou hast not retired with those that were 
not worthy, hast thereby also professed thyself to be 
of the number of those who are worthy. How comes 
it to pass that, seeing thou hast staid behind, thou 

L in Liturg. 66, o. 



368 THE FATHERS ARE NOT ACKNOWLEDGED 

dost not communicate of this table?" &c. 77#c yap 
b fir] [leze^cov rcov puar/jpccou dvacaypvrco^, xac crapw^ 
kazTf/.toc,^ he. Ecrce pot, el tcq e«c kaxcaacv xtydecz, ra£ 
%scpa<; vc^acro, xac xazaxlcdrj, xac kzocpoq yevocro 
TtpoQ T7]v rpaneCav, sera prj pere^oc* obyji uftpc^ec TOV 
xulzoavra ; ou fteXrtov tov tocootov prjde Trapayevsodac ; 
ouzco 8e xac cru Trapayeyovat;, zov upvov ijoaQ pera 
Tzavzcov, wpoXoyrjaa^ dvac rcov aQwv, rco prj pera tcdv 
ava^uov dpaxs%coprjxemc tlojq ipecvas, xac ou peze%ec£ 

TTjQ TpaTCSCf^* 

If any man should now preach this doctrine to the 
Romanists, would they not laugh at him ? inasmuch 
as their custom in this particular is far different (as 
every one sees,) from what it was heretofore in the 
ancient Church. 

It is as clear as the day, that all along in the 
ancient Church it was lawful for any of the faithful 
to take home with them the holy eucharist, which 
they might keep in any private place, to take it after- 
wards by themselves alone, whenever they pleased. 
Whence it is that Tertullian advises those .that durst 
not communicate upon the days appointed for that 
purpose, for fear of breaking their fast, to keep the 
body of Christ by them. " Receiving the body of 
Christ (says he) and keeping it by thee, both are 
preserved entire; both the participation of the sacri- 
fice, and the discharge of thy duty."f 

This appears also by a story related by Cyprian, 
of a certain woman " who going about to open, with 
unworthy hands, a coffer of hers, where the eucharist 
was laid up, she presently saw fire breaking out 
thence ; which so amazed her, that she durst not 
touch it."J 

* Chrysost. Homil. 3, in ep. ad Ephes. t. 3, p. 778, edit Savilii. 

f Accepto corpore Domini, etreservato, utramque salvum est, et 
participate sacrificii, et executio officii. — Tertul. lib. de orat. c. 14. 

% Cum quaedam arcam suam, in qua Domini sanctum fuit, mani- 
bus indignis tentasset aperire, igne hide surgente deterrita est, ne 
auderet attingere. — Cyprian. 1. de laps. p. 244. 



AS JUDGES IN POINTS OF RELIGION. 8G9 

Ambrose also, a long while after Cyprian, testifies 
sufficiently that this custom in his time continued in 
the Church ; where he tells the story of his brother 
Satyrus, who being upon the sea, and in danger of 
shipwreck, " and fearing lest he should go out of the 
world without the holy mysteries (for he was yet 
but of the number of the catechumens,) made his 
addresses to those whom he knew to have been initia- 
ted, and desired of them to give him the divine sacra- 
ment of the faithful; not that he might therewith 
satisfy the curiosity of his eyes, but that it might 
strengthen his faith. And thus having put it into a 
handkerchief, and then tying the handkerchief about 
his neck, he threw himself into the sea, and was 
saved."* 

If Rome indeed bears such great respect to the 
Fathers, as they would make us believe, why has she 
not then retained this custom? Why then should that 
which was then so ordinarily practised, be now in our 
days so much disliked, that they will not by any 
means permit the friars to keep the eucharist in their 
convent, nor yet in their choir, nor in any other place, 
save only the public church ?f 

Ambrose informs us moreover, that in those times 
they made no scruple at all of carrying the eucharist 
upon the sea; which custom of the ancients is so 
much disliked by the Church of Rome in our days, 
that they hold it an unlawful thing, either to conse- 
crate or to carry the sacrament ready consecrated, 
upon any water whatever, whether it be that of the 
sea or of rivers. 

This very custom of the ancients keeping the sacra- 

* Nan mortem metaens, •■• 1 ae racaas mysterii eziret e vita, quos 

inita it. :ti) \\\< divinom illud fideliom Sacramen- 

. nun ut en juloa insereret arcanis, sed ut Bdei 

iam. Btenim Ligari fecit in orario, e1 

.; involvit eollo, atque it tit in marc. — Ambros. de obit. 

f Cone. Tri I Bess. 25, de regal, et Mon. cap. 10. 

82 



870 THE FATHERS ARE NOT ACKNOWLEDGED 

ment by them, proves very clearly that the faithful 
in those days received the sacrament with their hands : 
which is also plainly enough intimated by Tertullian; 
where, inveighing against those among the Christians, 
who were sculptors and painters by profession, he 
reproves them "for touching the body of our Saviour 
with those very hands which bestowed bodies on 
devils:''* that is to say, with those hands wherewith 
they made idols. Cyprian is clear in point in divers 
places ;f Gregory Nazianzen also testifies the same in 
his sixty-third poem: — Oude #£/>£C cppcaGOOotv, eTirju Jc 
[iDGTtv idcodvjv recvet^. J &c. And in the canons of the 
council of Constantinople in Trullo, held in the year 
of our Lord 680, there is one which appoints, a that 
he, who is to communicate, place his hands in the form 
of across, and so receive the communication of grace :" 
(si zee, too d^pavroo oajfiazoz, &c.)§ which had been the 
practice from the time of Cyril of Jerusalem. Yet 
there is no one but knows that this custom has no 
place now in the Church of Rome; where the com- 
municants receive the eucharist, not with their hand 
but with their mouth, into which it is put by the 
priest. 

I would also gladly be informed, by what canon of 
the ancient Church those single masses, which are 
now celebrated and said every day, where none com- 
municates but the priest alone who consecrates the 
host, were instituted or permitted: and moreover how 
that respect which they pretend they bear to antiquity, 
can stand with that canon of the council of Trent, 
which says: " Whosoever shall say, that those masses 
wherein the priest alone communicateth sacramen- 
tally, are unlawful, and fit to be abolished, let him be 

* Eas maims admovere corpori Domini, quse claemoniis corpora 
conferunt. — Tertul. lib. de Idol. cap. 7. 
f Cyprian, ep. 56, etlib. de bono Patientise, p. 316. 
X Greg.Naz. Carm. 63. 
$ Synod. Quinis. Can. 101. 



AS JUDGES IN POINTS OF RELIGION. 371 

accursed:"* seeing that this kind of masses was ut- 
terly unknown to the ancient Church, as Cassander 
proves at large, in his u Consulted io de Articulu lie- 

rats," written to the emperor Ferdinand f 
But that which most of all gives offence to those 
devoted to antiquity, is the custom which the Church 
of Rome has introduced and established, by the ex- 
press decrees and canons of two of their general 
councils, the one held at Constance, J and the other at 
Trent, § of not allowing the communion of the cup 
to any but to the priest who consecrates the same; 
excluding by this means, first, all the laity, and se- 
condly, all the priests and others of the clergy, who 
had not the consecrating of it: whereas the whole 
ancient Church, for the space of fourteen hundred 
years, admitted them both to the communion of the 
holy and blessed cup, as well as to the participation 
of the consecrated bread; as those two councils them- 
selves confess, in the preface to this New Constitu- 
tion. || And this is still the practice also at this day 
among all Christians throughout the world, Russians, 
Greeks, ^f Armenians, Ethiopians,** Protestants,ff 
and all others in general, except the Latins only, who 
are of the communion of the Church of Rome. But 
besides the ancients permitting this communion under 
both kinds (as they use to speak,) it seems (which 
is yet much more) that unless it were in some extra- 
ordinary cases, they did not at all permit the commu- 

♦Siqtrisdij quibus solus sacerd tentaliter 

communicat, illicit ie abrogandas, anathema sit. — 

. 8. 
i. Consult, ad Ferdin. &c. p. 995, et in Liturg. p. 83. 

-. 13. 

. 21, c. 1, ct 2, Can. 2. 

eligionis non infrequens atriusque 

Spc-- 

. i. ad Vfttemb. 
** oh. 11. 

ft l hi 1, art 12. 



372 THE FATHERS ARE NOT ACKNOWLEDGED 

nicating under one kind only. For otherwise, why 
should Pope Leo give this very thing, as a mark to 
distinguish the Manichees from the Catholics? "When 
they sometimes are present at our mysteries (says he) 
that so they may hide their infidelity, they so order 
the matter, in their participating of these mysteries, 
that they receive the body of Christ into their un- 
worthy mouth, but will not take into it one drop of 
the blood of our redemption :" and he further adds, 
that " he gives his auditory this warning, that they 
may know those men by this mark/'* Should this 
pope now arise from his grave, and come into the 
w r orld again, he would certainly believe that all those 
who adhere to his see, were turned Manichees, except 
the consecrating priests alone. How besides would 
you be able, without this hypothesis, to explain that 
decree of pope Gelasius, which says, "we are in- 
formed, that there are some, who having taken a 
small portion of the sacred body only, forbear to par- 
take of the consecrated blood ; doing this, as we hear, 
out of I know not what superstitious conceit where- 
with they are possessed ; we therefore will, that they 
either partake of the whole sacrament, or else that 
they be wholly put back from communicating; foras- 
much as there cannot, without very great sacrilege, 
be any division made in one and the same mystery."f 
Indeed what can you otherwise say to that story 
which is related by the accusers of Ibas, bishop of 
Edessa; that having one time made but a very scanty 

* Cumque ad tegendam infidelitatem suam nostris audeant in- 
teresse mysteriis, ita in sacramentorum communione se temperant, 
ut interdum tutius lateant, ore indigno Christi corpus accipiunt, 
sanguinem autem redemptionis nostrae omnino haurire declinant. 
Quod ideo vestram volumus scire sanctitatem, ut vobis hujusmodi 
homines et his manifestentur indiciis, &c. — Leo I., P. R. Serm. 4, 
de Quadrag. p. 108. 

f Comperimus autem, quod quidam sumpta tantummodo corporis 
sacri portione, a calice sacri cruoris abstineant, &c. quia divisio 
unuis ejusdemque mysterii sine grandi saerilegio non potest prove- 
nire. — Gelas. Joh. et Maj. Ejrisc. Decret. de Consecrate dist. 2, c. 12. 



AS JUDGES IN POINTS OF RELIGION. 373 

provision of wine for the service of the altar, which, 
after it had been begun to be distributed to the com- 
municants, began quickly to fail: "he perceiving 
this, beckoned to those who delivered about the holy 
body, that they should come back again ; because he 
had no more of the blood of our Saviour :" — 'Uazs 
roec to dftop crcoua dtavs/jtouacv ivsuaev £cae?Mecu 

U'JTO'JC, (L»C TOO (LilULZOZ ftf SU jHGXO [JLSVOU .* 

What need was there of ordering them to suspend 
the business, because there was no more wine, if it 
was at that time lawful to distribute the bread alone, 
•without the wine? If the councils of Trent and of 
Constance had accounted the authority of the Fathers 
as supreme, how came it to pass that they abolished 
that which had for so long a time, and so constantly, 
been observed by them? And how again does this 
other canon of the council of Trent agree with that 
deference w T hich they pretend to bear towards anti- 
quity ; where it is said that " whosoever shall say that 
the holy Catholic Church has not been induced by 
just causes and reasons to communicate, under the 
species of bread only, to the laity, and even to the 
priests also, who do not consecrate ; or that it has 
erred in this point, let him be accursed. "f 

It seems to be no very easy matter to acquit the 
modern Church, without condemning the ancient, 
their practices being manifestly contradictory to each 
other; the modern Church forbidding that which the 
ancienc permitted; and the ancient Church seeming 
to have expressly forbid that which the modern com- 
mands. 

How can you say that the one had just reasons for 
what it did, unless you grant that the other, in doing 

16, p. 366, torn. 2, ConciL gen. 
siam Catholicam dob justi cauaifl 
fuisse, ut laicos, atqne etiam olericoa aon 
kntummod communioaret, aut in eo 

■ - ■ ' . TruL 8e*S, HI, Can. 2. 



374 THE FATHERS ARE NOT ACKNOWLEDGED 

the contrary, had either no reason at all, or else but 
very unjust ones; seeing that it is most clear that 
neither the world nor the times are any whit changed, 
within these two hundred years, from what they were 
before ? For it is impossible for any man to allege 
any reason for the practice of the moderns, which 
should not in like manner have obliged the ancients: 
nor again to produce any reason for the contrary 
practice of the ancients, which does not in like man- 
ner oblige the moderns. So that of necessity, either 
the one or the other of them must needs have been 
guilty either of error, or, at least, of negligence and 
ignorance. We may very well therefore conclude, 
that the Church of Rome, seeing it believes itself to 
be infallible, manifestly in this particular condemns 
the ancient Church, as guilty of ignorance, or of neg- 
ligence at the least; which in my judgment seems not 
so well becoming those persons who do nothing else 
but continually preach to us the honour of antiquity. 
But here will all the true reverers of antiquity have 
an ample field for reflexion. For as for those reasons, 
by which the Fathers of the council of Trent were 
induced to make the afore-mentioned decree, how 
(will they say) can we know whether they were just 
or not; seeing that they themselves produce none at 
all? Whereas the reasons which induced the ancients 
to do as they did, which may be found in a certain 
discourse printed at Paris, at the end of Cassander's 
works, are very sound and clear, and in my judgment 
very full, both of wisdom and of charity.* 

We need not enter further into this disputation: it 
is sufficient for my purpose, that the Church of Rome, 
in doing thus, has manifestly abolished a very ancient 
custom in the Church. 

Besides these ceremonies, which were practised by 
the Fathers in baptism and in the eucharist, they 

* Inter Opera Cassand. pag. 1019. 



AS JUDGES IN POINTS OF RELIGION. 375 

have laid aside many other also, which were formerly 
in use in the Church. I shall not here speak of fast- 
ing on Saturdays, which is observed by the Church of 
Rome, contrary to the ancient practice of the whole 
Christian Church, who all accounted it unlawful: be- 
cause this difference in practice is as ancient as 
Augustine's time,* and therefore ought not to be 
imputed to the modern Church of Rome. I shall for 
the same reason also pass by what Firmilianus says,f 
namely, that in his time, about two hundred and fifty 
years after the nativity of our Saviour Christ, "those 
of Rome did not in all things observe whatsoever had 
been delivered from the beginning; and that they in 
vain alleged the authority of the Apostles." 

I must here remark, that anciently it was a general 
custom throughout all Christendom, not to kneel, 
either upon the Lord's days, or upon any day betwixt 
Easter-day and Whit-Sunday, which custom has been 
generally abolished by the entire Church of Rome; 
and yet whether you consider the antiquity, or whe- 
ther you look upon the authority of those who both 
practised this themselves, and also recommended it 
to our observance, you will hardly find any more 
venerable custom than this. For the author of the 
"Questions and Answers," attributed to Justin Mar- 
tyr, makes mention of this custom, and moreover 
gives the reason and ground of it; and besides proves 
by a certain passage, which he produces out of Ire- 
iic>:us, that it had its beginning in the Apostolical 
times. 'Ex zo^ dazoGToiauov oe ypopwu /j rotou/m 
awrjdua iAafte rqu dpfflVi xadwc tpwoev b pyauwcot 
Eiptjveuoz 6 uo.oz'jz, xat £nco7umo$ Aoofdoupou 9 ip zuj 
Kepi too FIcuTya koyct), &c.J 

;rl Casulan. p. 71 el 76. 
f Eoe qtu Rome rant doe ea in omnibus observare, qn» Bint nb 

ram auotoritatem pr&tendere. — 
1 ■ . ■ qua est mti r -.<'.. 76. 

; Pseud. Just Q. et EL Quest 115. 



376 THE FATHERS ARE NOT ACKNOWLEDGED 

Tertallian also speaks of this custom :* and both 
Epiphanius,f and Jerome,! class it among the insti- 
tutions of the Church : and what is yet more than all 
this, the sacred general council of Nice authorizes 
the same, by an express canon made to that purpose. 
"Forasmuch as there are some (say these three hun- 
dred and eighteen venerable Fathers,) who kneel upon 
the Lord's day, and upon the days of Pentecost; to 
the end that in all parishes, (or as we now speak, 
dioceses,) there may be the same order observed in 
all things, this holy synod ordains that (on these 
days) they pray standing:" ^Enecdrj zcve^ elacv iv zrj 
xopcaxrj yow xhvovzs^, xac i.y zatc. Tqc, Ilevzrjxoazrjt; 
-fj/jLepo^, bnep zoo izo.vza iv naarj napoixca o/jloccdq <puXaz- 
zeadac, kazoyza^ idogs zrj &yca Zovoda), zac; eu%a£ 
dnodtdovat zco 0eco.§ This ancient constitution was 
revived and explained in the council of Constanti- 
nople in Trullo,|| towards the end of the seventh 
century; where it was expressly forbidden to kneel 
during the space of those twenty-four hours that pass 
between Saturday evening and Sunday .evening. 
Every one is also aware how they have abrogated 
the fast, that was wont to be observed upon the 
fourth day of the week, that is Wednesday; which 
yet was the practice of the ancients, as appears by 
what we find in the pseudo-Ignatius,T in Peter,** 
bishop of Alexandria, and a martyr, in Epiphanius, 
Ttvi oe ou aopLTce(pa)V7]zac iv naac xXcptaac zrj£ oly.oup.zvqc, 
bzc zezpo.:;, xac TZpoaoftfiazov prjazeca iaztv iv zrj 
ExxXrjaca ojptapzvq;\\ Clemens Alexandrinus,JJ and 
others. 

* Tertul. 1. de Coron. milit. cap. 3. 

f Epiph. in Panar. in conclus. operis. 

% Hieron. Dial, contr. Lucifer, p. 187, t. 2. 

\ Con. Nic. Can. 20. 

|| Synod. Quinisex. Can. 90. 

\ Ignat. Epist. 5. ** Petr. Alexand. in MS. 

ff Epiph. Panar. haer. 75. Aerii, p. 910. 

XX Clem. Alex. Strom. 1. 7. p. 317. 



AS JUDGES IN POINTS OF RELIGION. 377 

By the same liberty have those vigils been abol- 
ished, which were ordinarily kept by the ancient 
Church, and both approved and defended also by 
Jerome, against Vigilantius, who found fault with 
them:* though his opinion has now at length found 
more favour in the world than Jerome's. The same 
Father, in another place, delivers to us, for apostoli- 
cal tradition, that custom which they had in his time, 
of not suffering the people to depart out of the Church, 
upon Easter-eve, till midnight was past.f What 
is now become of this custom, which was not only 
an ancient one, but was derived also from the Apos- 
tles themselves, if you believe Jerome ? 

We are informed, from several hands, that that 
command of abstaining from blood, and from things 
strangled, was for a long time observed in the Church. 
And it appears evidently enough, that it was most 
rigidly kept in the primitive times, both from the tes- 
timony of TertullianJ and of Eusebius.§ The coun- 
cil of Constantinople in Trullo excommunicates all 
those of the laity, and deposes all those of the clergy, 
who shall offend herein. || And Pamelius, in his notes 
upon Tertullian's Apologetics^ informs us, that it is 
not long since that the observance of this custom was 
first laid aside among Christians, it being not much 
above four hundred years since there w T ere certain 
penances appointed for those that should violate the 
same. Yet notwithstanding all its antiquity and uni- 
versality, it is at length quite disused; the Church of 
Home having very gently, and by little and little, laid it 
aside; no one, that I know of, having taken the least 

* De Vigiliis et pernoctationibufl Martyrom saepe celebrandris, 
kc — ' . cont. Vigil, p. 163. 

f Unde reor et traditionem apostolicam permansisse, at in die 
Vigiliamm Pascha ante noctis dimidium populos dimittere Don 

lic-nt, ex] .-; « I vi-n t urn Christi. — Id. Com.4 f in Matth.p. L2L 

X Tcrtul. I Euseb. Hist. Eeoles. L 5, c. 2. 

d. Quinis. Can. 7. 
I PameL in Apolog. Tertull. num. 38. 



378 THE FATHERS ARE NOT ACKNOWLEDGED 

notice either of the time when, or the manner how, it 
was done : only this we all see plain enough, that it is 
now entirely out of use. 

The same may be said of that custom of praying 
for the saints departed, which was clearly the prac- 
tice of the ancients. "We pray (says Epiphanius,) 
for the just, the Fathers, the Patriarchs, the Prophets, 
Apostles, Evangelists, Martyrs, &c, that we may dis- 
tinguish the Lord Jesus Christ from the order of men, 
by that honour which we pay unto him." Kac yap 
or/auov nocoopteda zrp pvqp-qv, xac unep zo)v anapzaiXtov, 
&c, unep 3e dcxaccov, xac nazepcov, xac naxpcapycov, 
xac TTpocpyjTCDV, xac dnoGzoXcov, xac ebayyeXcGzaiv, xac 
p&pzoptov, xac bpoXoyrjzov, encGxoncov re, xac dva^cop- 
Tjzcov, xac navzoc, zoo zaypazoz, Iva zov Kopcov Itjgoov 
XpcGzov dcpopcGtopev dno T7j<z zcov dvdpconcov zagecoz, 
dca r*^c npoQ abzov ttf&fa xac osfiaz abzo) dnoScopev, 
&c* 

We have also some of their prayers to this purpose 
yet remaining ; as in the liturgy of James. MvtjgOtjzc 
Kopce deoz zcov nveopaztov, xac Ttaa/j^ oapxo^ wv 
epwjGOrjpiev, xac wv obx epvqGdfjpev, opdodogcov, dno 
AfteX zoo dtxacoo, pe%pc rjyc Gqpepov fjpepaz' abzoQ exec 
ohzooc, dvanauGov, ev J^opa ^covzoyv, ev zrj ftaGcXeca goo, 
&c.f In the Syriac liturgy of Basil,! after they had 
mentioned the Patriarchs, the Prophets, John Baptist, 
Stephen, the Virgin Mary, and all the rest of the 
saints, they at last added: "We daily send up our 
prayers and supplications unto thee for them." And 
a little after, "Lord, remember also (says the priest) 
all those who are departed this life, and the orthodox 
bishops, who have made a clear and open profession 
of the true faith, from the Apostles Peter and James, 
to this day; of Ignatius, Dionysius," &c. And then 
he says with a loud voice, "remember also, Lord, 

* Epiph. Pan. Hser. 75. Aerii, p. 911. 

f Liturg. Jacob, p. 29, edit. Par. an. 1560. apud Guliel. Morell. 

\ Liturg. Syriac. Basil. 



AS JUDGES IN POINTS OF RELIGION. 379 

those who have persevered even to blood, for the 
word of a good fear.'* So likewise in the liturgy of 
Chrysostom ; "we offer unto thee this reasonable ser- 
vice, for all those who have departed in thy faith," ftc. 
t Ovt -<h)(7ceooiisv trot xtju hrfacqv zwjzrp htxpttax* uzep 
7(0^ i^ ictarst dvcara&oftev&p Tvponarepw^ ~a-zepwv, 
itarpeap%wv, npotpr/jrcav, &c. See also Liturg. St. 
Marc. t. 2, Gr. Lat. Bibl. PP. p. 34. Tcov ip ruazei 
Xpatrou ~ ooxexot tiT; iisvcov Tiarepcov re xac doelipcov ra$ 
(!")-/</.: dpoatcuMFOV, Aupcs &c; — xac roorcov tlclvtcov ra<z 
(j!"jyac dvaxaiMTOP, dea-ora, <fec 

Yet the Church of Rome has utterly abolished this 
custom, and without all question believes that you 
could not do the saints a greater injury, than now 
making any such supplications for them; and those 
who are curious may observe many other similar 
differences between the ancients and the Church of 
Rome, in their customs and ceremonies. 

As to their discipline also there is not less dis- 
crepancy. One of the chief of these differences, and 
which indeed is the origin of a great portion of the 
rest, is in the elections and ordinations of ecclesiasti- 
cal ministers, which is the true basis and ground- 
work of the discipline and ministry of the Church. 

It is clear that in the primitive times they depended 
partly on the people, and not wholly on the clergy; 
but every company of the faithful either chose their 
own pastors, or else had leave to consider and to ap- 
prove of those that were proposed to them for that 
purpose. Pontius, a deacon of the Church of Car- 
thage, says that " Cyprian, being yet a neophyte, 
was elected to the charge of pastor, and the degree of 
bishop by the judgment of God, and the favour of the 
people."* Cyprian also tells us the same in several 
places. In his fifty-second epistle, speaking of Cor- 

*Jadicio Dei. et plebifl favore, ad officium Sacerdotii, el epi 

no neophytes, et at patabatar, novellas eleotas 

est. — /' D '. in vitji Cypr. 



380 THE FATHERS ARE NOT ACKNOWLEDGED 

nelius, he says, "that he was made bishop of Rome 
by the judgment of God, and of his Christ, by the 
testimony of the greatest part of the clergy, by the 
suffrage of the people who were there present, and 
by the college of pastors, or ancient bishops, all good 
and pious men."* In another place he says, that "it 
is the people in whom the power chiefly is, of choos- 
ing worthy prelates, or refusing the unworthy. Which 
very thing (says he) we see is derived from divine 
authority, that a bishop is to be chosen in the presence 
of all the people ; and is declared either worthy or 
unworthy by the public judgment and testimony ;f 
therefore (says he a little afterwards) ought men dili- 
gently to retain and observe, according to divine tra- 
dition and apostolical custom, that which is also 
observed by us, and in a manner by all other pro- 
vinces; namely, that for the due and orderly proceed- 
ing in all ordinations, the neighbouring bishops of the 
same province are to meet together at that place, 
where a bishop is to be chosen; and the election of 
the said bishop is to be performed in the presence of 
the people of that place, who fully know every man's 
life, and by their long conversation together under- 
stand what their behaviour has been. "J 

Hence it was that Eusebius, bishop of Nicomedia, 

* Factus est autem Cornelius episcopus, de Dei et Christi ejus 
judicio, de clericorum poene omnium testimonio, de plebis, quae 
tunc affluit suffragio, et de Sacerdotum antiquorum, et bonorum 
virorum collegio. — Cyprian, ep. 52, p. 97. 

f Quando ipsa (plebs) maxime habeat potestatem vel eligendi 
dignos sacerdotes, vel indignos recusandi. Quod et ipsum videmus 
de divina auctoritate descendere, ut sacerdos plebe praesente sub 
omnium oculis deligatur, et dignus atque idoneus publico judicio 
ac testimonio comprobetur. — Id. ep. 68, ^>. 166. 

% Propter quod diligenter de traditione divina, et Apostolica ob- 
servatione observandum est, et tenendum, quod apud nos quoque, 
et fere per provincias universas tenetur, ut ad ordinationes ritd 
celebrandas, ad earn plebem, cui propositus ordinatur, episcopi 
ejusdem provincias proximi quique conveniant, et episcopus deliga- 
tur plebe praesente, quae singulorum vitam plenissime novit, et uni- 
uscujusque actum de ejus conversatione perspexerit. — Ibid. p. 166. 



AS JUDGES IN POINTS OF RELIGION. 381 

finding fault with many things in the ordination of 
Athanasius, accounted this also among the rest, that 
it had been performed without the consent of the 
people.* To which, answer was made by the council 
of Alexandria,! that the whole people of Alexandria 
had with one voice desired him for their bishop, giving 
him the highest testimonies, both for his piety and 
his fitness for that charge. In like manner, Julius, 
bishop of Rome, among other faults which he found 
in the ordination of Gregory, who had been made 
bishop of Alexandria, adds, "that he had not been 
desired by the people :" — Mq ahqdevra Tiapa Trpscrftu- 
T€pa)v, fjaj nap iruoxo-cov, fjaj Tzapa Xacov, &c.J 

It appears clear enough, both out of Jerome, § and 
by the acts of the council of Constantinople, || and of 
Chalcedon,^" and also by the Pontificale Romanum** 
and several other productions, that this custom con- 
tinued a long time in the Church. But it is now 
above seven hundred and fifty years since the Church 
of Rome ordained, in the 8th Council, (which notwith- 
standing has been always unanimously and constantly 
rejected by the Eastern Church to this very day,) that 
the promotions and consecrations of bishops should be 
performed by the election and order of the college of 
bishops only, forbidding, upon pain of excommunica- 
tion, "all lay persons whatsoever, even princes them- 
selves, to meddle in the election or promotion of any 
patriarch, metropolitan, or any other bishop whatso- 
ever;" declaring withal, "that it is not fit that lay 

* Atlian. Apol. 2, p. 726 et 727. 
f [bid. 72'). 728. 

j Julius ap. Atlian. Apol. 2, p. 748, 749. 

j Micron. ]. 1, a<lv. Jovin, p. 67, t. 2, ct Com. 10, in Ezech. p. 
gg. p. 512, t. 5, ct Com. 1, in Ep. ad GaL 
p. 271, t, 

II * nst 1. in Ep. ad Damas. p. 94 ei 96, t. 1, Cone. Gfonor 

1 deed, act. 11, p. 876, t. 2. ( ■ ct act L6, p. 

- ; • Pontine. Rom. in Ordinal Presbyter. foL 88, vide rapr. 1 

1, c. 4. 

33 



882 TIIE FATHERS ARE NOT ACKNOWLEDGED 

persons should have anything at all to do in these 
matters: it becoming them rather to be quiet, and 
patiently to attend, till such time as the election of 
the bishop who is to be chosen be regularly finished 
by the college of clergymen."* 

Thus have they, by this one canon-shot, beaten 
down the authority of the Fathers, and of the primi- 
tive Church, who always allowed to the faithful people 
some share in the elections of their pastors. Neither 
has this custom been able ever since to lift up its 
head; the people being (as every man knows) now 
more than ever defrauded of this their right, and 
having not the least share in the elections, not merely 
of popes, primates, or archbishops, but not so much 
as of the meanest bishop that exists. 

As the people anciently had their voice in the elec- 
tion of their pastors, so probably also they had the 
like in all other affairs of importance that took place 
in the Church. In Cyprian's time, many, who during 
a very great persecution, had been forced to yield by 
the cruelty of the Pagans, being afterwards touched 
•with a sense of their fault, desired to return to the 
Church again; but yet to avoid the shame, and the 
length and rigour of those penances which were 
usually imposed upon such offenders, the greatest 
part of them begged of their confessors to be favour- 
ably dealt with, and corrupted their priests, that so 
they might be received again into the communion of 
the Church, without undergoing canonical penance. 
Cyprian, who was a strict observer of discipline, 
wrote many things against this abuse; by which it 
evidently appears, that the people had their right also 

* Neminem laicorum principum, vel potentum semet inserere 
electioni vel promotioni Patriarch ae, vel Metropolitan, aut cujus- 
libet episcopi, &c, praesertim cuni nullam in talibus potestatem 
quenquam potestativorum, vel ceterorum laicorum, habere con- 
veniat, sed potiu s silere, ac attendere sibi, usque quo regulariter & 
colfegio ecclesise suscipiat fincm eicctio futuri pontificis. — Cone, 8. 
Can. 22, L 3, Cone, p. 282. 



AS JUDGES IN POINTS OF RELIGION. 383 

in the hearing and judging of these causes. For, in 
his tenth epistle he says, that those priests that had 
received any such offenders rashly, and contrary to 
the discipline of the Church, "should give an account 
of what they had done to himself, to the confessors, 
and to the whole people."* In another place, writing 
to the people of Carthage — "When the Lord (says 
he) shall have restored peace to us all, and we shall 
have returned to the Church again, we shall then 
examine all these things, you also being present, and 
fudging ofthe?n."f It is in the same epistle, and on 
this very point, where he adds that passage, which we 
have before produced, in the chapter on the corrup- 
tion of the writings of the ancients: "I desire thein 
(says he) that they would patiently hear our council, 
&&, to the end that, when many of us bishops shall 
have met together, we may examine the letters and 
desires of the blessed martyrs, according to the dis- 
cipline of the Lord, and in the presence of the con- 
fessors, and also according as you shall thi?ik jit. 1 ' 
Hence it is, that in one of his former epistles, he pro- 
tested to his clergy, "that from his first coming to 
his bishopric, he had ever resolved to do nothing of 
his own head, without their advice, and the approba- 
tion of his people "% He who would yet be more fully 
satisfied in this particular, may read the fourteenth 
epistle of the same Father, and the twenty-eighth on 
the business of Philumenus and Fortunatus, two sub- 
deacons; as also the fortieth on the business of Feli- 
cissimus; and the sixty-eighth, which he wrote to the 
clergy and the people of Spain jointly, commending 

* Acturi et apud nos, ct apud oonfeasores ipsos, et apud plcbcra 
uniTersam can-am num. — Cyprian. $p. 10, p. 80. 

i nobis omnibus a Domino prins data, ad eool&iam 
c&periinuA, tunc examinabnntni singula, prsesentibua at 
ju li< —I'/, ep. 1 2, />. 38. 

tndo a primord patus mei Btatuerim, nihil sine con- 

- plebifi mesa, prtaata Benton tin gerere, — ■ 
Cypr. q>. 0, p. 1"J. 



884 THE FATHERS ARE NOT ACKNOWLEDGED 

them for having deposed their bishops, who were 
guilty of heinous crimes.* 

But that no man may think that this was the prac- 
tice of the Church of Carthage only, I should state 
that the clergy of Rome also approved of this resolu- 
tion of his, of bringing to trial, so soon as they should 
be at rest, this whole business, on those who had fallen 
during the persecution, in a full assembly of the 
bishops, priests, deacons, and confessors, together 
with those of the laity who had continued firm, and 
had not yielded to idolatry, f And that which, in my 
judgment, is very well worth our observation, is that 
Cyprian himself, writing to Cornelius, bishop of Rome, 
says, " that he does not doubt but that, according to 
that mutual love which they owed and paid to each 
other, he always read those letters which he received 
from him to the most eminent clergy of Rome who 
were his assistants, and to the most holy and most 
numerous people."! Whence it appears, that at 
Rome also the people had their vote in the managing 
of ecclesiastical affairs. 

I shall not need here to add any more, to show how 
much the authority and example of the ancients, in 
this particular, are now slighted and despised; it 
being evident enough to every man, that the people 
are not only excluded from the councils and consisto- 
ries of the bishops, but that, besides, the man would 

* Quae scripta est nomine 66 episeoporum : et ep. 68, et in 
prsefat. Concil. Carthag. — Id. ep. 14, et 28, et 40, et 59. 

f Quanquam nobis in tarn ingenti negotio placeat, quod et tu 
ipse tractasti prius, ecclesiae pacem sustinendam, deinde sic colla- 
tione consiliorum cum episcopis, presbyteris, diaconis, confessori- 
bus, pariter ac stantibus laicis facta, lapsorum tractare rationem. — 
JEpist. qucz est inter Cypr. ep. 31. 

% Quanquam sciam, frater charissime, pro mutua dilectione quam 
debemus et exhibemus invicem nobis, florentissimo illic Clero tecum 
praesidenti, et sanctissimae atque amplissimae plebilegere te semper 
litteras nostras ; tamen nunc et admoneo et peto, ut quod alias 
sponte atque honorifice facis, etiam petente me facias, ut hac epis- 
tola mea lecta, &c. — Cypr. ep. 55, ad Cornel, p. 121. 



AS JUDGES TN POINTS OF RELIGION. 385 

now be taken for a heretic who should now only pro- 
pose, or attempt to restore, any such thing. But I 
beseech you now, only fancy to yourselves an arch- 
bishop, who, writing to the Pope, should address him 
thus: "Most dear brother, I exhort you, and desire 
of you, that what you are wont honourably to do of 
your own accord, you would now do at my request — 
namely, that this my epistle may be read to the dis- 
tinguished clergy who are your assistants there; and 
also to the most holy and most numerous people. " 
Would not the writer, think you, of such a letter as 
this, be laughed at as a senseless, foolish fellow, if at 
least he escaped so easily, and met with no worse 
usage? Yet, this is the very request that Cyprian 
made to Pope Cornelius. 

But as the bishops and the rest of the clergy have 
deprived the people of all those privileges which had 
conferred upon them by antiquity, as well in the 
election of prelates, as in other ecclesiastical affairs; 
in like manner is it evident, that the Pope has en- 
grossed into his own hands, not only this booty of 
which they had robbed the people, but also in a man- 
ner all the rest of their authority and power; as well 
that which they heretofore enjoyed, according to the 
ancient canons and constitutions of the Church, as 
that which they have since, by various admirable 
means, by little and little acquired, in the space 
of some centuries. All this has now entirely disap- 
peared, I know not how, and been swallowed up by 
Borne in a very little time. 

The three hundred and eighteen Fathers of the 
council of Xice ordained, "that every bishop should 
be created by all the bishops of his province, if it 
were possible; or at least by three of them, if the 
whole number could not so conveniently be brought 
thcr ; yet with this proviso, that the absent bishops 
were consenting also to the said ordination: and that 
the power and authority in all such actions should 



386 THE FATHERS ARE NOT ACKNOWLEDGED 

belong to the metropolitan of each several province :" 
'EizcGXcmou TzpoaTjxec [laXcaxa fiev 5tzo tzclvtcov tcov iu 
£~ap%ca xadcazaadac^ &c* 

This ordinance of theirs is both very agreeable to 
the practice of the preceding ages, as appears by that 
sixty-eighth epistle of Cyprian, which we cited a lit- 
tle before, and was also observed for a long time 
afterward by the ages following; as you may perceive 
by the epistle of the Fathers of the first council of 
Constantinople to Pope Damasus;f and also by the 
discourse of those that sat as presidents at the coun- 
cil of Chalcedon, on the rights of the patriarch of 
Constantinople in his own diocese. 

Notwithstanding all these things, the whole world 
knows and sees what is the practice of the Church of 
Rome at this day, and that there is not any true 
power or authority left to the metropolitans and their 
councils, in the ordinations of the bishops within their 
own dioceses; but the whole power, in this case, de- 
pends on the Pope of Rome, and on those whom he 
has entrusted herein, either of his own accord, or 
otherwise. Indeed all bishops are to make their 
acknowledgments of tenure to the Pope; nor may 
they exercise their functions without his commission ; 
which they shall not obtain, without first paying down 
their money, and compounding for their first fruits, 
styling themselves also in their titles thus: — " We N. 
Bishop of N., by the grace of God, and of the holy 
Apostolical See," of which strange custom and title 
you will not meet with the least trace throughout all 
the records of antiquity ; not so much as one of all 
that vast number of bishops, whose subscriptions we 
have yet remaining, partly in the councils, and partly 
in their own books and histories, having ever thus 
styled himself. 

* Cone. Nic. Can. 4. 

f Cone. Const. I. in Ep. ad Damas. p. 94. t. 1, Cone. Gener. 



AS JUDGES IN POINTS OF RELIGION, 387 

As for Provincial and Diocesan Synods, where 
anciently all sorts of ecclesiastical causes were heard 
and determined; as appears both by the canons of the 
councils, and also by the examples we have left us; 
as in the history of Arius, and of Eutyches, who were 
both anathematized, the one in the synod of Alexan- 
dria, and the other in that of Constantinople; they 
dare not now meddle with anything, except some tri- 
vial matters, being of no use in the greater causes, 
save only to inquire into them, and give in their in- 
formation at Rome.* Nor can the meanest bishop be 
judged in any case of importance, which may be suffi- 
cient to depose him, by any but the Pope of Rome: 
his metropolitan and his primate, the synod of his 
province, and that of his diocese, (in the sense in 
which the ancients took this word,) having not the 
least power in these matters, unless it be by an extra- 
ordinary delegation; and having then only authority 
to draw up the business, and make it ready for hear- 
ing, and then to send it to Rome: none but the Pope 
alone having power to give sentence in such cases, as 
it is expressly ordained by the council of Trent. f 

I shall here pass by the Pope's taking away from 
the bishops, contrary to the canons and practice of 
antiquity, all jurisdiction and power over a good part 
of the monasteries, and other companies of religious 
persons, both seculars and regulars, within their dio- 
ceses ; his assuming wholly to himself the power of 
absolving, and of dispensing in several cases, which 
they call reserved cases, (though in ancient times this 
authority belonged equally to all bishops ;) and also 
his giving indulgences, and proclaiming jubilees; 

* Minores criminales CML88B episcopornm in oancilio tnntmu pro- 
tar et terminentur, &o. — Cone* Trid. Set*. -L 
D . 5. 

bb criminalea graviorea contra episc . qua deposi- 

tions ant priyatione dignaa rant, ab ipso tanttun smnmo Romano 
poiitifice cognoacantnr, et lermineiitar, &a — lod. 



388 THE FATHERS ARE NOT ACKNOWLEDGED 

things which were never heard of, in any of the first 
ages of Christianity. 

As for the discipline which was anciently observed 
in the Church towards penitents, whether in punish- 
ing them for their offences, or else in the receiving 
them again into the communion of the Church, it is 
now wholly lost and vanished. We have now nothing 
left us, save only a bare idea and shadow of it, which 
we meet with in the writings of the ancients; in the 
canonical epistles of Gregorius of Neocaesarea, of 
Basil, and others, and in the councils, both general 
and provincial. 

Where are now all those several degrees of pe7iance 9 
which were observed in the ancient Church: where 
some offenders were to bewail their sins without the 
Church; some might stand and hear the word among 
the catechumens; others were to cast themselves down 
at the feet of the faithful? Some of them might par- 
take of the prayers only of the Church; and others 
were at length received again into the communion of 
their sacraments also. Where are those eight, those 
ten, those twenty years of penance, which they some- 
times imposed upon offenders? This whole course 
of penance, which we meet with everywhere in the 
writings of the ancients, is now wholly merged in 
auricular confession, wherein no part of the penance 
appears to the world. 

As these kinds of punishments, which were most 
wholesome for the penitents, have been quite abolished 
by them ; so have they on the other side introduced 
other kinds of penalties, which are indeed very bene- 
ficial and advantageous to the temporal estate of the 
Church of Rome, but are most pernicious for the souls 
of offenders; such as their Interdicts, when, for the 
offence (and that oftentimes too, rather a pretended 
than a true one) of one or two single persons, or per- 
haps of a corporation, they will deprive a whole state, 
wherein there are perhaps many millions of people, 



AS JUDGES IN TOINTS OF RELIGION. 389 

of the participation of the holy sacraments, which are 
the means by which the grace and the life of Jesus 
Christ is communicated unto poor mortals; an exam- 
ple of which kind of proceeding was practised by 
Pope Paul V. in my childhood, against the state of 
Venice. In what code of the ancient Church can you 
discover that any such strange kind of punishment 
was ever instituted, as that, for the offence of a few, 
many millions of souls should be damned? How can 
you call that power apostolical, w T hich punishes in this 
manner; seeing that the apostolical power was given 
for edification, and not for destruction? 

I would also wish to learn of any man, that could 
tell me, upon what canons of the ancient Church that 
sanguinary discipline of the Inquisition is grounded; 
where, after they have extracted from a poor soul, by 
crafty dealing, and many times also by such barbarous 
usage as would make one tremble to read, a confes- 
sion of his being guilty of heresy, instead of instruc- 
tion, they pass upon him sentence of death, and he is 
forthwith delivered over to the secular magistrates : 
to whom notwithstanding, in plain mockery both of 
God and man, they give an express charge, that they 
do not put him to death.* Yet in case they fail of so 
doing, and if within six or seven days after, at the 
most, they do not burn him alive, f (and all this with- 
out ever hearing his cause or what his offence is,)J 
they themselves shall be prosecuted by ecclesiastical 
censures, and shall be excommunicated, deposed, and 
deprived of all dignities, both ecclesiastical and tem- 
poral. 

That w r hich yet surpasses all belief is, that although 
the person questioned should confess his fault, and 

* N leric. Director. Inqois. P. 2. c. 27. p. 127. ef i l >i 

tern. J'. '-'>. ]>. 512. 

: [nquis. P. :> ». | 

i Direct. Inqois. P. 3. < >. 86. et ibid. Pegna, p. "><w. Comm. 
p. 564. 



300 THE FATHERS ARE NOT ACKNOWLEDGED 

should express his hearty sorrow for it, and should by 
way of satisfaction submit himself to the severest 
penance that could be; yet would not the poor wretch 
escape death, if he be of the number of those whom 
they call the relapsed.* 

most inhuman cruelty, worthy of the Scythians 
and the Laestrigonians only ! but very ill becoming the 
disciples of Him who commanded his apostle to par- 
don his brother, not seven times only, but seventy 
times seven : and as ill beseeming those who so highly 
boast of being the successors and inheritors of those 
mild and tender-hearted ancients, who taught, " that 
it is the part of piety not to constrain but to persuade, 
according to our Saviour's example, who constrained 
no man, but left every man to his own liberty, to fol- 
low him or not.. ..And that the devil, as he has no 
truth in him, comes with axes and with hammers to 
break open the doors of those that must receive him. 
But our Saviour is so meek, that his manner of teach- 
ing is, 'If any one will follow me;' and 'he that will 
be my disciple;' neither does he constrain any one to 
whom he comes, but rather stands at the door of every 
one, and knocks, saying, ' Open to me, my sister, my 
spouse;' and so enters, when any open to him: but 
if they delay, and will not open to him, he then de- 
parts; because the truth is not to be pressed with 
swords and arrows, nor with soldiers and armed men, 
but by persuasion and counsel." 6eoae^eca<; pev yap 
locov fivj avayxa^ecv, dXXa rcecdecv, xac yap 6 Kupcoz 
abroQ ob ftca^opevoz, dXXa tyj npoacpeaec dc3ou<; eXeys 

Ttaac pev, el zee, OeXec oncaco poo eXOecv, &c 

pev ocaftoXoz enec prjdev dfajOec k%ec, iv neXexec xac 
/jj.ZEVzrjptco l7ztfia.L\Hj)v xareagec zac, dopac, za)v oe^opevcov 
aurov b oe 1 \ottj p outcd^ zgtc npaoQ, loq dtdaoxecv pev, 
el zc$ deXec oncaw poo iXOscv, xac 6 6eXcov elvat poo 

* Direct. Inquis. P. 3. modo 9. termin. process, p. 510. et ibi 
Pegna. 



AS JUDGES IN POINT? OF RELIGION. 391 

uoOtjttjc ipYOfitvov de itpo£ kka&rov, ur t fttd£e<jOat\ 
a/la fiaXXov xpoueev re, xai Xefeev, tivoegov n.oc, ddz/crj 
/ay), vi)[Mpyj % xcu dvotfOVTMV jlvj elffep^erae^ dxvouvratp 
as. xw /a] deXovTi&v ixtcvcav, d^aywpec. 'Oo yap ~t(fzocv y 
■i t feXtotv^ i dea <rrpaziana)V) &c* 

The ancients also sharply reprehended the Arians, 
for going about to establish and maintain their religion 
by force; saying, "Of whom have they learnt to per- 
secute their brethren? Certainly they cannot say that 
they have learnt of the saints; no, they have rather 
had the devil for their tutor herein." And again : 
" Jesus Christ has commanded us to fly, and the saints 
have indeed fled sometimes: but persecution is the 
invention of the devil." Tlodzv i/jtaOou abzoc to 
tuaxeiu; dzo fHU yap rcov dytcov obx av sc~ocsw d~o 
as rou dcaftoAou touto aSbvotQ Ktpt&fapttcu, &c. . . . Kai 
to fitly fSUyetv b h'jococ 7:poo£Ta~e, xac ol dytoi icpuyov 
to dz dt&xeev diaftokxov scftc \~iyj.ipr t fia, xac xaTa 
Xavtew o.'jto^ ahzcTat touto. f 

In another place they protest, that "by that very 
course which the Arians took in banishing (which yet 
is much less than burning,) all those who would not 
subscribe to their decrees, they clearly showed them- 
selves to be contrary to all Christians, and to be 
the friends of the devil and his fiends." 01 outco 
yna.co^Ti:, ojgti to Ttloz tcov ypauaa.Tcov aurwv 
igopar/tOV) XOi d/lac Ttfuop'jj.z zyzw, tc dp scev ol 
toco'jtoc ; ol XntfjTiaycov niv d/loTotoc, dcayiohrj de 9 XCU 

TOJ^ i'/.ir^O') d<J.i!!AV>0)V <f'M)L.% 

In like manner has another of the ancient Fathers 
exclaimed against the proceeding of these Arians, 
who made use not only of the terror of persecution, 
but of the enticements also of worldly riches, that 
thus they might the more easily draw men over to 

* Athan. in Ep. a<l solit. vir 

f Ariian. ApoL l. .]«■ faga sua, ]». 716. torn, i. 

\ Athan. OOntT. Arian. Or. L tl.p.2 



392 THE FATHERS ARE NOT ACKNOWLEDGED 

their belief. "But now, alas! (says this Father,) 
worldly suffrages recommend the faith of God : Christ 
is now become weak and void of power, and ambition 
gains credit to his name. The Church terrifies by 
banishment and imprisonments, &c. She, that was 
consecrated by the terror of her persecutors, depends 
now upon the dignity of those who are of her com- 
munion. She who has been propagated by banished 
priests, now herself banishes priests. She boasts now 
that she is beloved of the world — who could not be 
Christ's, unless the world hated her."* Agreeable 
to what another of them says, " That the Church of 
Christ was founded by shedding her blood, and by 
suffering reproaches, rather than by reproaching 
others; and that it has grown up by persecutions, and 
has been crowned by martyrdoms. "f 

Another also of the chief among the ancient Fathers 
reproached an Arian for having made use of the 
sword and axe in ecclesiastical matters. "Those 
whom he could not deceive by his discourse, (says he,) 
he thought proper to use his sword against ; uttering 
with his mouth, and writing with his hands, sanguin- 
ary laws, and thinking that a law can command men's 
faith. "J And that you may not imagine that he 
himself thought that lawful which he found fault with 

* At nunc, proh dolor ! divinam fidem suftragia terrena recom- 
mendant inopsque virtutis suae Christus, dum ambitio nomini suo 
conciliatur, arguitur. Terret exiliis et carceribus Ecclesiae, cre- 
dique sibi cogit, quse exiliis et carceribus est credita. Pendet ad 
dignationem communicantium, quae persequentium est consecrata 
terrore. Fugat sacerdotes, quae fugatis est sacerdotibus propa- 
gata. Diligi se gloriatur a mundo, quae Cliristi esse non potuit, 
nisi earn mundus odisset. — Hilar. I. contr. Aux. p. 86. 

i Fundendo sanguinem, et patiendo magis quam faciendo con- 
tumelias, Christi fundata est ecclesia ; persecutionibus crevit, mar- 
tyriis coronata est. — Hieron. ep. 62, ad Theoph. t. 2, p. 274. 

| Qui (Auxentius) quos non potuerit sermon e decipere, eos 
gladio putat esse feriendos; cruentas leges ore dictans, manu 
scribens; et putans quod lex fidem possit hominibus imperare.— - 
Ambros. ep. 82, t. 3, p. 126. 



AS JUDGES IN POINTS OF RELIGION. 393 

in the Arians, lie says, in another place, that in a 
certain journey which he made into Gaul, he refused 
to communicate with those bishops who would have 
some certain heretics to be put to death.* 

The emperor Marcian, in like manner, who called 
together the council of Chalcedon, and was a prince 
that was highly commended for his piety, solemnly 
protests that u he had forced no man to subscribe, or 
to assent to the council of Chalcedon, against his will. 
"For, (says he) we will not draw any man into the way 
of life by violence or by threats/' Kac fj pzv y/psrepa 
faXqvoTTfi obdebc to oovolov dvayxr^ iizayprpcu izpoo- 
era£ev, waze vj u-oypo^ztv, vj oovaivziv, ei ou fiooXocTO* 
oude yap d~scMMC, /} /?*a ziva npoc, rr^v ttjc dlr^deca^ boov 
kixeev 0ouXofjL60au1[ Indeed, Hosius, bishop of Cordova, 
long before testified that the most Catholic emperor 
Constans never compelled any man to be orthodox. J 
And this is the course which is approved of by all the 
ancients. "God (says Hilary) has rather taught us 
the knowledge of himself, than exacted it of us; and 
giving authority to his commandments by the wonder- 
fulness of his heavenly works, he has refused to force 
us to confess his name, &c. He is the God of the 
whole world: he has no need of a compelled obedi- 
ence ; he requires not any forced confession. "§ These 
are the reasons this author brought to dissuade the 
emperor Constantius from using violence, and forcing 
the consciences of men. 

* Postea cum videret me abstinere ab episcopis qui communica- 
Imnt ei, vel qui aliquot licet a fide, ad necem petebant, 

fee. — Ambros. 1. 2, '/'• 27. 1. 3, p. 106. 

f Marcian. ep. ad Archiiiiandr. et Mon. JEg. in Act. Cone. 
Chalce I. t. 2, Cone. Gen. p. 453. 

% Hujus ep. ad Cunstantium, apud Atlian. In ep. ad solit. vit. ag. 
t. 1, p. 839. 

litionem bui aocuit potins, quam exegit; et opera- 

tiom turn admiratione praeceptLe suifi oonoilians auctori- 

di oonfitec ruatus esl roluntatem, &c. Deus 

anii oio qoh egel aecessario: nan requirit ooae- 

■iii. — lidar. /. 1, ad ConsUfol. 81. 



394 THE FATHERS ARE NOT ACKNOWLEDGED 

Ambrose says, " Christ sent his Apostles to plant 
the faith; not to compel, but to instruct men; not 
to exercise the force of power, but to promote the 
doctrine of humility/'* Hence the observation of 
Cyprian, when comparing the manner of proceeding 
in the Old Testament with that of the New: "Then 
the proud and the disobedient were cut off by the 
(fleshly) sword ; now they suffer by the spiritual, being 
thrown out of the Church. "f Certainly then they 
still live, at this very day, under the Old Testament, 
in Spain, and Italy, and all those other places where 
the Inquisition is in force ; and, I believe, he would 
find a very difficult task of it, whoever should take it 
in hand to reconcile this passage of Cyprian to that 
opinion of Pope Pius V.,J who said that bishops might 
have their officers and executioners of justice, for the 
causes that appertained to their jurisdiction ; and 
might put their sentences in execution against offend- 
ers ; and that the reason of their having recourse upon 
all occasions to the secular powers, was, not because 
the Church could not make use of its own proper 
officers of justice in such cases, but rather because it 
had none; or if it had any, they were so weak, and so 
few in number, that for the suppressing and punishing 
of delinquents, it stood in need of the assistance of the 
temporal power. 

I shall conclude this subject with Tertullian, the 
most ancient author of the Latin Church, whom 
Pamelius (as we have noticed before) will have us to 
believe to have been a persecutor of heretics ; yet he 
was a man that would not allow a Christian so much 

* Eos misit ad seminandam fidem, qui non cogerent, sed doce- 
rent, nee vim potestatis exercerent, sed doctrinam humilitatis 
attollerent. — Ambros. Com. in Luc. I. 7, p. 99. 

f Tunc quidem gladio occidebantur, quando adhuc et circumcisio 
carnalis manebat. Nunc autem, &c, spirituali gladio superbi et 
contumaces necantur, dum de ecclesia ejiciuntur. — Cyprian, ep. 
62, j*. 143. 

% Girolamo, Catena nella vita di Pio V. p. 126. 



AS JUDGES IN POINTS OF RELIGION. 395 

as to draw a sword, either in a war against a public 
enemy, or in discharging the office of a magistrate 
upon offenders whom all civil laws punish with death. 
Hear what he says of religion. " Consider (says he 
to the Pagans) whether this be not to add to the 
crime of irreligion, to take away the liberty of 
religion, and to interdict a man the choice of his God, 
by not suffering him to worship whom he would, but 
to compel him to worship whom he would not. There 
is none, no not among men, that takes pleasure in 
being served by any against their will."* Some few 
chapters afterwards he says, "It seems very unjust 
that freemen should be constrained to do sacrifice 
against their will. For, in the performing of service 
to God, a willing heart is required. "f In another 
book, when speaking of the same thing, he says: "It 
is a point of human right, and a natural power that 
every man has to worship that which he thinks fit. 
The religion of another man neither hurts nor profits 
any one. Neither is it indeed the part of religion to 
compel religion ; which ought to be entertained will- 
ingly, and not by force; inasmuch as sacrifices them- 
selves are required only from willing minds. "J 

On this passage Pamelius gives us a marvellously 
rare gloss, saying, "that we ought not indeed direct- 
ly to compel men to our religion, but yet we may pun- 
ish them, if they will not change their opinion." Cer- 

* Yidete enim ne et hoc ad irrcliiriositatis elogium concurrat, 

adimere libertatem reiigionis, et interdicere optionem divinitatis, at 

i colore quern velim, sed eogar colore quern aolim. 

«ito coli vellet, nc homo qaidem. — TertulL Apelog. c. 

Lam .intern facile iniqimm vMetur, liberos homines invito* 
Nam et ali&S -I'm me rci faciendae libens 
animus inducitor. — Id. Apolog. c. 28, p, 61. 

I Tameo human] juria, fcoralia pot ique 

aeo alii ol 

religionem, 
non vi : cum et hoel i libeuti expostulcntur. — Id. I. ad 

, '. <:. _'. 



396 THE FATHERS ARE NOT ACKNOWLEDGED 

tainly he thinks it is not compelling a man, to cause 
him to do a thing under pain of death. Let any man 
that can, reconcile the practice of the Inquisition, and 
the Pope's thunderbolt against king Henry VIII. and 
his daughter queen Elizabeth, and against some of 
the kings of France also, with this constant opinion 
of all antiquity. 

Now after the Romanists have thus boldly slighted 
the doctrines, the ceremonies, and the discipline of the 
ancients, by changing and abolishing whatever they 
have thought good; with what confidence can they 
still laud the Fathers, and adduce their testimonies, 
and place them upon the seat of judicature, and make 
them the judges of our differences? Or although they 
still do thus, who would not be ready here to bring 
against them those words of Tertullian, which he 
made use of in another similar case? " I would be 
very glad (says he) that these great and religious de- 
fenders and maintainers of the laws and customs of 
their fathers, would answer me a little as to their own 
faith, respect, and obedience, toward the constitutions 
of their ancestors; whether they have not departed 
from and forsaken some of them ? whether they have 
not rased out those things which were most neces- 
sary and most useful in their discipline ? What has 
become of those ancient laws? &c, where is the reli- 
gion, where is the reverence which is due from you 
to your ancestors ? You have renounced your fore- 
fathers, in your habit, apparel, manner of life, opin- 
ion, and also in your very speech. You are always 
lauding antiquity, yet every day you assume a new 
manner of life."* 



* Nunc religiosissimi legum, et paternorum institutorum pro- 
tectores et ultores respondeant v^lim de sua fide, et honore, et ob- 
sequio erga majorum consulta, si a nullo desciverunt? si in nullo 
exorbitaverunt? si non necessaria et aptissima quseque discipline 

oblitteraverunt? Quonam illae leges abierunt, &c Ubi reli- 

gio! ubi veneratio majoribus debita fc vobis? Habitu, victu, in- 



AS JUDGES IN TOINTS OF RELIGION. 397 

Whether therefore they of the Church of Rome 
have upon just grounds dealt thus with the ancients 
or not, it answers my purpose notwithstanding to 
conclude, that by this their proceeding they have 
given us a sufficient testimony that they do not ac- 
count their authority supreme in matters of religion. 
And if so, what reason have they to urge it for such, 
against the Protestants? Seeing they have weakened 
the authority of so many of those judgments, on points 
of religion, which have been given by the Fathers, 
how can they expect that their authority should pass 
for authentic in any one ? Let us suppose, for in- 
stance, that they held that there was such a place as 
Purgatory. But (will the Protestant say,) if you 
have found their belief to be so erroneous, on the 
state of the souls of departed saints till the day of 
the resurrection, why would you impose upon me a 
necessity of subscribing to what they held on Purga- 
tory ? The laws of controversy ought to be equal ; 
and therefore if you, by examining this opinion of the 
Fathers by reason and by the Scriptures, have found 
it to be erroneous, why will you not give us leave to 
try that other on Purgatory, by the same touchstone? 
Certainly, should we but speak the truth, it is the 
plainest mockery that can be, to cry out, as these men 
do continually, "the Fathers, the Fathers, " and to 
write so many volumes upon this subject, after they 
have so dealt with them as you have seen. 

If it be here objected that the Protestants them- 
selves do also reject many of those Articles, which 
we have before noticed, we answer, that this is no- 
thing at all to the purpose; forasmuch as they take 
the Scriptures, and not the Fathers, for the rule of 
their faith; neither do they press any man to receive 



struetn, Bensu, ipso denique Bermone proayia rennnoiaetis; laudatia 
semper antiqaitatem, et nov6 de die vivitia. — Id. Apol. e, 'sy. SI, 

31* 



398 THE FATHERS ARE NOT ACKNOWLEDGED 

anything from the hands of the ancients, unless it be 
grounded upon the word of God. If, lastly, you say 
that the authority of the Fathers has no place, nor 
is at all considerable, in the points before set down, 
because the Church has otherwise determined on the 
same ; this is clearly to grant us that which we would 
have, namely, that the authority of the Fathers is not 
supreme. As for the Church, how far its authority 
extends in these things, that is a new question which 
I shall not meddle with at this time. Only thus much 
I shall say, that whatever authority you allow it, 
whether little or much, you will still find that it will 
very hardly be able to do anything, on the decision 
of our present controversies; forasmuch as you can 
never be able to make any use of this position, till 
you are assured of what and where the Church is; 
seeing that the Protestants strenuously deny that it 
is that which appears at this day at Rome; and the 
greatest difficulty of all consists in demonstrating 
this to them. For if they did but once believe that 
the Church of Rome was the true Church, they would 
immediately join themselves with it; so that there 
w r ould not henceforth be need of any further dis- 
pute. 

We shall therefore here conclude, that to adduce 
the testimonies of the Fathers on the differences that 
are at this day in religion, is no proper mode for the 
deciding them, seeing that it is no easy matter to dis- 
cover what was their judgment respecting the same, 
by reason of the many difficulties we meet with, in 
the writings of the ancients; nor is it of such suffi- 
cient authority in itself, as that we may safely estab- 
lish our belief upon it, since the Fathers themselves 
were also subject to error. Neither, lastly, is it of 
any force, with either party; seeing that they both 
regulate and examine the opinions, ceremonies, and 
discipline of the ancients, the one by the rule of the 
Scriptures, and the other by that of the Church. 



AS JUDGES IN POINTS OF RELIGION. 399 

Here, I find, that upon this conclusion two ques- 
tions may arise. For since an appeal to the Fathers 
is not sufficient for the deciding of those points that 
are now in" dispute amongst us, it may be asked, in 
the first place, what other course we ought to take 
for attaining the truth of these controversies; and 
then, secondly, how and in what cases the writings of 
the Fathers may be useful to us. Now, although both 
these questions are without the compass of our pre- 
sent design, yet as they so closely border upon it, we 
shall, in the last place, say a word or two in answer 
to them. 

As for the first, it would be a difficult matter, in my 
judgment, to discover a better way for satisfaction on 
this point, than that which one Scholarius, a Greek, 
who is very highly esteemed by those who printed 
the general councils at Rome, has proposed. This 
learned man, in a certain oration of his, which he 
made at the council of Florence, for the facilitating 
the union which w T as then in treaty between the 
Latins and the Greeks, and was afterwards concluded, 
lays it down as a basis, " that we ought not to reject 
all those things, which are not clearly, and in express 
terms, delivered in the Scriptures; which is a pretext 
and evasion which many of the heretics make use of: 
but that we ought to receive with equal honour what- 
ever directly follows from that which is said in the 
Scriptures; and to reject utterly whatever shall be 
found to be contrary to those things which are un- 
doubtedly true." He says further, that "in those 
things wherein the Scripture has not clearly expn 
ed itself, we must have recourse to the Scripture itself, 
as our guide, to give us light therein, by some other 

-age, where it has spoken more plainly." And 
after all this he requires, " that we should use our 
utmost endeavour fully to reconcile those seeming 
contradictions, which we sometimes here meet with in 
several passages; to that purpose taking notice of the 



400 THE FATHERS ARE NOT ACKNOWLEDGED 

diversity of times, customs, senses and the like." 
Kac Tcptora pev prj Ttavra ftooXeodac dcappydrjv Xapfiavscv 
ix rjyc Ypcupyz' tootco yap xac ttoXXolk; lapev tojv 
alpezcxcov yp^aapevouc, tco npoxaluppaTC &XX av tc toc$ 
obzw Xsyopspoa; axoXoodov ij y xac touto r^c l<rf}<Z TtpyG 
a^couv waaurcoq el tc tocc, dXydeac, xac avavTcppyroct; 
IvavTcoupevov (pacvocTO, touto pydeva Ttapabeyeadac 
Tpoizov. ' EnecTa tcou prj aacpeoz ecprjpevwv, auvqv 
Trp ypaiprjv Xapftavscv dcdaaxaXov, ig wv dXXodc ttou 
oacpsGTspov 7ipaypaTSoeTar izpoc, 3e toutocq tyjv doxouaav 
ocaycovcav igrjyoupevouz Xuecv rcecpaadac, xacpouc, re, xac 
Xpsca^, xac 3ca<popou£ evvocaz, xac Ta TOcauTa napaX&p- 
fio.vovTa^.* 

Proceeding further, Scholarius says, " That the 
Fathers of the council of Nice after this manner 
concluded by the Scriptures upon the true belief 
touching the Son of God."f Then applying all 
this to his present purpose, he adds, "that the 
Scripture . says clearly and expressly that the Holy 
Ghost proceeds from the Father; and that this is 
agreed upon by both sides, both by the Greeks and 
Latins." To pev ouv, ex too TzaTpoc, exnopeueodac to 
nveupa to kycov, xecTac pev dcapprjdrjv iv*ry ypaiprj^ 
bpoXoyecTac de izapa rcavTaiv fjpwv, &c. But as Scrip- 
ture has not so expressly declared itself whether the 
Holy Ghost proceed also from the Son or not, and 
as this is the thing now in question, the Latins 
affirming it, and the Greeks on the other side deny- 
ing it, he says: "We ought therefore to prove this 
from some other parts, which are there more clearly 
delivered." Ouxouv ex tcvcdv dXXcov touto auvayeadac 
dec, (pfivepoyc, ixec Xeyopevwv. This he afterwards per- 
forms, and indeed, in my judgment, very learnedly 
and happily; proving this doubtful point out of 
other passages that are more clear. And this was 

* Scholar. Orat. 3, t. 4. Cone. Gen. p. 650. 
f Ibid. p. 652 et 653. 



AS JUDGES IN POINTS OF RELIGION. 401 

the judgment of this great person; which will nob 
give any offence to those of the Church of Rome, 
because it came from one that was on their side. 
Neither do I see what could have been spoken more 
rationally. And indeed this is the course that is 
observed in all sciences whatever. 

If an adversary doubt of the truth of what we 
propose, we are to prove it by such maxims as are 
acknowledged and allowed of by him, making good 
that which is doubtful by that which is certain, and 
clearing that which is obscure by that which is 
evident. This is the rule that I conceive we ought 
to abide by, in the disputes that are among us at 
this day. The word of God is our common book; 
let us therefore search into it, for that upon which 
we may ground our own belief; and by which we 
may overthrow the opinion of our adversary. As 
for example, it is there said clearly and expressly, 
that what our Saviour Christ took at his last supper, 
was bread : and herein we all agree. But it is not 
at all there expressed, whether this bread was after- 
wards changed or annihilated. And this is now the 
question in dispute among us. We ought therefore 
(according to the counsel of Scholarius) to prove this 
by some other things which are there delivered 
clearly. And if you do this, you have got the vic- 
tory: if not, I do not at all see why or how you can 
oblige any one to believe it. 

In like manner the Scripture tells us, in terms as 
express as can be, that our Saviour Christ com- 
manded his Apostles to take and eat, and to drink 
that which he gave them in celebrating the eucharist. 
But it does not at all say, that he commanded 
them to offer the same in sacrifice, either then or 
afterwards. And this is now the question : which it 
concerns those of the Church of Rome, if they will 
have us believe it, to prove by some other things. 



402 THE FATHERS ARE NOT ACKNOWLEDGED 

which are clearly and expressly delivered in the word 
of God. 

The Scripture, in like manner, says expressly that 
Jesus Christ is the Mediator betwixt God and man: 
and that he is the Head of the Church; and that he 
purges us by his blood from our sins. Now in all 
this, both sides are fully agreed. But it is not at all 
there expressed that the departed saints are media- 
tors ; that the Pope is the head of the Church; and 
that our souls are in part cleansed from their sins by 
the fire of purgatory. Herein lies the controversy 
between us. The learned Scholarius's opinion herein 
would now be, that certainly those who propose 
these points as articles of faith, must deduce and 
collect them from some things which are clearly 
delivered in the Scriptures; for otherwise they are 
not to be pressed as truths. And although in mat- 
ters of religion, or indeed in any other things of 
importance, a man may very well be excused for not 
believing a thing, when there appears no reason, to 
oblige him to believe it; yet, if those who reject the 
articles now disputed among us, have a mind to go 
further, and to prove positively the falseness of them, 
you see this author has laid down the way by which 
they are to proceed. He accounts those very absurd 
who require at your hands that you should show them 
all things expressly delivered in the Scripture: and 
this ought principally to be understood of negative 
propositions, of which no science gives you any cer- 
tain account: forasmuch as to go about to number 
them all up, would be both an endless and also un- 
profitable piece of work. It is sufficient to deliver 
the positive truth. For, as whatever rightly follows 
thereupon is true; in like manner, whatever clashes 
with or contradicts the same is false. Would you 
therefore demonstrate those propositions that are 
pressed upon you to be false? Only compare them 
with those things that are clearly and expressly de- 



AS JUDGES IN POINTS OF RELIGION. 403 

livercd in the Scripture ; and if you find them contrary 
to any thing there set down, receive them not by any 
means. As for example, if a Protestant, not content- 
ing himself with having answered all those reasons 
which are brought to prove that there is such a place 
as Purgatory, shall yet desire to go further, and to 
make it appear that the opinion is false; he is in this 
case to have recourse to the Scripture, and to examine 
it by those things which are there clearly and ex- 
pressly delivered on the state of the soul, after it is 
departed this life, and touching the cause and means 
of the expiation of our sins, and the like. If the 
opinion of purgatory be found to contradict anything 
there delivered, then, according to Scholarius, " it 
ought not to be received by any means." But the 
brevity which we proposed to ourselves in this dis- 
course, permits us not to prosecute this point any 
further. 

As for the other question, it is no very difficult 
matter to resolve it. For, although we do not indeed 
allow any supreme and infallible authority to the 
writings of the Fathers, yet we do not therefore at 
once account them useless. If there were nothing of 
use in religion, saving what was also infallible, we 
should have but little good of any human writings. 
Those who have written in our own age, or a little 
before, are of no authority at all, against either party. 
Yet we read them, and also derive much benefit from 
them. How much more advantage then may we 
make, by studying the writings of the Fathers, whose 
piety and learning were for the most part much greater 
than that of the moderns! Augustine believed them 
not in anything otherwise than as he found what they 
delivered to be grounded upon reason; and yet, he 
held them in very great esteem. The like may he 
said of Jerome, who had read almost all of them over ; 
and yet he takes the liberty sometimes to reprove 
tkem somewhat sharply, where he finds them not 



404 THE FATHERS ARE NOT ACKNOWLEDGED 

speaking to his mind. Though you should deprive 
them not only of this supremacy, which yet they 
never sought after, but should rob them also of their 
fame, yet would they still be of very great use to us. 
For books do not therefore profit us, because they 
were of such a man's writing ; but rather because 
they instruct us in those things that are good and 
honest, and keep us out of error, and make us abhor 
those things that are vicious. Blot, if you please, 
the name of Augustine out of the title of those excel- 
lent books of his De Qivitate Dei, or those other 
which he wrote, De Doctrina Christiana. His wri- 
tings will instruct you not a whit the less; neither 
will you find the less benefit from them. The like 
may be said of all the rest. 

First of all, therefore, you will find in the Fathers 
many earnest and zealous exhortations to holiness of 
life, and to the observance of the discipline of Jesus 
Christ. Secondly, you will there meet with very 
strong and solid proofs of those fundamental princi- 
ples of our religion on which we are all agreed : and 
also many excellent things developed, tending to the 
right understanding of these mysteries, and also of 
the Scriptures wherein they are contained. In this 
very particular, their authority may be of good use 
to you, and may serve as a probable argument of the 
truth. For is it not a wonderful thing to see, that so 
many great wits, born in so many several ages, during 
the space of fifteen hundred years, and in so many 
several countries, being also of such different tempers, 
and who in other things were of such contrary opinions, 
should notwithstanding be found all of them to agree 
so constantly and unanimously in the fundamentals of 
Christianity ; that amidst such great diversity in wor- 
ship, they all adore one and the same Christ; preach 
one and the same sanctification ; hope all of them for 
one and the same immortality; acknowledge all of 



AS JUDGES IN POINTS OF RELIGION. 405 

them the same gospels; find therein all of them great 
and high mysteries? 

The exquisite wisdom, and the inestimable beauty 
itself, of the discipline of Jesus Christ, I confess, is 
the most forcible and certain argument of the truth of 
it : yet certainly this consideration also is, in my opin- 
ion, no small proof of the same. For, pray, what 
probability is there, that so many holy men, who were 
endued (as it appears by their writings) with such 
admirable parts, with so much strength and clearness 
of understanding, should all of them be so grossly 
deceived, as to set so high a value upon this disci- 
pline, as to suffer even to death for it; unless it had 
in it some certain divine virtue, calculated to make an 
impression on the souls of men? What likelihood is 
there that a few besotted atheists, who rail against 
this sacred and venerable religion, should have been 
more successful in lighting upon the truth, than so 
many excellent men, who have all so unanimously 
borne testimony to the truth? 

As for atheists, their vicious life ought to render 
their testimony suspected by every one ; notwithstand- 
ing they may be otherwise (as indeed they conceive 
themselves to be) able men. For what wonder is it, 
if a whoremonger, or an ambitious person, cry down 
that discipline that condemns their vices to everlasting 
fire? that he that drowns himself every day, and at 
length vomits up his soul in wine, should hate that re- 
ligion which forbids drunkennesss upon pain of dam- 
nation ? The great reason that these men have to 
wish that it were false, must needs make any man 

-e to wonder at their pronouncing it to be false. 
To take any notice therefore of what such wretches as 

-o may say, is the same as if you should judge, by 
taking the opinion of common strumpets, of the equity 
or injustice of the laws that enjoin people to live hon- 
estly. But the case is clearly otherwise with tii 
holy men, who have so constantly and so unanimou.-ly 
35 



406 THE FATHERS ARE NOT ACKNOWLEDGED 

taught the truth of the Christian religion. For as 
they were men born and brought up. in the very same 
infirmities with other men, we cannot doubt but that 
they also naturally had strong inclinations to those 
vices, which our Saviour Christ forbids; and very 
little affection to those virtues which he commands. 
Forasmuch, therefore, as notwithstanding all this, they 
have yet all of them constantly maintained that this 
doctrine is true, their testimony certainly in this case 
neither can nor ought in any wise to be suspected. 
So that even if they had been destitute of those great 
and incomparable advantages of parts and learning, 
which they had above the enemies of Christianity, 
their bare word however is much rather to be taken 
than that of the others; seeing that these men are 
manifestly carried away by the force of their own vile 
affections, of which the others cannot possibly be sus- 
pected guilty. And as for those differences in opinion, 
which are sometimes found amongst them, on certain 
points of religion, some whereof we have formerly 
set down; these things are so far from disparaging 
the weight of their testimonies, that on the contrary 
they rather very much add to it. For this must acquit 
their consenting of all suspicion, that some perhaps 
might have, that it proceeded from some combina- 
tion, or some correspondence and mutual intelligence. 
When you find them so disagreeing among them- 
selves, on so many several points, it is an evident 
argument that they have not learnt their knowledge 
from one another; nor yet have all agreed upon the 
same thing by common deliberation ; but have all of 
them collected it out of a serious examination and 
consideration of the things themselves. And if we 
received no other benefit from the writings of the 
Fathers, yet would this be considerable. 

But now, that the benefit and satisfaction, which 
we shall receive from this consideration, may not be 
interrupted and disturbed by- our meeting with so 



AS JUDGES IN FOINTS OF RELIGION. 407 

many different private opinions of theirs; we are to 
take notice, that Christianity consists not in subtleties, 
nor so much in the great number of its articles, as in 
the power and efficacy of them. A great part of these 
points of faith, and the end of all the rest, is sanetifi- 
cation ; that is to say, a pure worship of God, and a 
hearty charity towards men. You may therefore 
boldly conclude that man to be a true observer of this 
discipline, whom you shall find to have a right sense 
and apprehension of these two points. Though per- 
haps he may be ignorant of those others, that exist 
rather in speculation than in practice, you ought not to 
reject him. And if, carried away by his own curiosity, 
or some other reason, he chance to err in some of those 
articles, bear with him notwithstanding. As God for- 
gives us our sins, so does he also forgive us our errors. 
The hay and the stubble and the chaff shall be con- 
sumed : but yet he that buildeth therewith shall be 
saved, if he only hold fast to the foundation. Nor 
ought you to be troubled, if now and then you meet 
with some ignorant or perhaps some erroneous pas- 
sages in the Fathers respecting these unessential 
points. They are not a whit the less Christian on 
this account, and may for all this have been most 
faithful servants of Jesus Christ. There is scarcely 
any face in the world so beautiful, but that it has 
some speckle or blemish in it. Yet is it not either 
the less esteemed, or the less beloved. The natural 
condition of mortal men and things, is to have some 
mixture of imperfection. 

But now, besides what has been hitherto said, we 
may, in my opinion, make another very considerable 
use of the Fathers. For there sometimes arise such 
turbulent spirits as will needs broach doctrines arising 
from their own imagination, which are not grounded 
upon any principle of the Christian religion. 1 Bay, 
refore, that the authority of the ancients may ?erj 
properly and seasonably be made use of against the 



408 THE FATHERS ARE NOT ACKNOWLEDGED 

assurance of these men; by showing that the Fathers 
were utterly ignorant of any such fancies as these in- 
dividuals propose to the world. And if this can be 
proved, we ought then certainly to conclude that no 
such doctrine was ever preached to mankind, either 
by our Saviour Christ, or by his Apostles. For what 
probability is there, that those holy Doctors of former 
ages, from whose hands Christianity has been derived 
down unto us, should be ignorant of any of those 
things which had been revealed and recommended by 
our Saviour, as important and necessary to salvation ? 
It is true indeed that the Fathers, being deceived 
either by some false manner of argumentation, or else 
by some seeming authority, do sometimes deliver such 
things as have not been revealed by our Saviour 
Christ, but are evidently either false or ill founded ; 
as we have formerly shown in those examples before 
produced by us. It is true, moreover, that among 
those things which have been revealed by our Saviour 
Christ in the Scripture, which yet are not absolutely 
necessary to salvation, the Fathers may have been 
ignorant of some of them; either because time had 
not as yet discovered what the sense of them was; or 
because, for lack of giving good heed to them, or by 
their being carried away with strong feelings, they 
did not then perceive what has since been ascer- 
tained. But that they should all of them have been 
ignorant of any article that is necessary to salvation, 
is altogether impossible. For, according to this, they 
should all have been deprived of salvation; which, 
I suppose every honest soul would tremble at the 
thought of. 

I say then, and, as I conceive, have sufficiently 
proved in this treatise, that an argument which con- 
cludes the truth of any proposition from the Fathers 
having maintained the same, is very weak and ill 
founded; as supposing that which is clearly false, that 
the Fathers maintained nothing which had not been 



AS JUDGES IN POINTS OF RELIGION. 409 

revealed by our Saviour Christ. For thus you might 
prove by the general agreement of the Fathers, that 
all the departed souls are shut up together in a certain 
place or receptacle, till the day of judgment; or that 
the eucharist is necessary for little infants, and the 
like; where everyone sees how insufficient and in- 
valid this kind of argumentation is. To say the truth, 
such is the proceeding of the Church of Rome, when 
they go about to prove, by the authority of the 
Fathers, those articles which they propose to the 
world, and which are rejected by the Protestants. 

I say moreover, that to conclude the nullity or 
falseness of any article, not necessary to salvation, 
from the general silence of the Fathers respecting the 
same, is a very absurd way of arguing; as supposing 
a thing which is also manifestly false; namely, that 
the Fathers must necessarily have seen and clearly 
known all those things which Jesus Christ has revealed 
in his word. Such a kind of argument would it be 
thought among the Franciscans, if any one should 
conclude against them, from the silence of the Fathers, 
that our Saviour Christ has not at all revealed that the 
blessed Virgin Mary was conceived without sin. But 
yet I confess, on the other side, that in those points 
that are accounted as absolutely necessary to salva- 
tion, an argument that should be drawn from the 
general silence of the Fathers, to prove the nullity or 
falseness of it, would be very pertinent, and indeed 
unanswerable. As, for example, his manner of argu- 
mentation would be very rational and sound, who 
should conclude that those means of salvation which 
are proposed by a Mahomet, suppose, or a David 
George, or the like sectaries, are null, and contrary to 
the will of our Saviour Christ, (however much these 
men may seem to honour him) seeing that none of 
the ancient Christians speak so much as one syllable 
of it, and are utterly ignorant of all those secrets which 
these wretches have preached to their disciples, and 
35* 



410 THE FATHERS ARE NOT ACKNOWLEDGED 

delivered as infallible and necessary means of salva- 
tion. After this manner did Irenaeus dispute against 
the Valentinians, and others of the Gnostics; who 
promulgated their own senseless dreams and the ab- 
surd issues of their own brain, saying that the Crea- 
tor of the world was but an angel; and that there 
were above him certain divine powers which they 
called JEons, that is to say, ages; some of them 
making more of these and others fewer, and some 
reckoning to the number of three hundred and sixty- 
five, and an infinite number of other similar prodigies; 
never showing any ground for the same, either in 
reason or out of the Scripture. Irenseus* therefore, 
that he might make it appear to the world that this 
strange doctrine was produced from their own imagi- 
nation only, undertakes to visit the archives of all the 
Churches that had been either planted or watered by 
the holy Apostles, and turns over all their records, 
evidences, and ancient monuments; and these JEons, 
Achamot and Barbelo^ of the Gnostics nowhere 
appearing, nor so much as the least part or trace of 
them, he concludes that the Apostles had never de- 
livered any such thing to their disciples, either by 
writing or by word of mouth, as these impostors pre- 
tended they had. For certainly if they had done so, 
the memory of it could not have been so utterly lost. 
This is also the method that Tertullian followed, in 
his disputations against these very heretics and others 
of the like description, in the twenty-second chapter 
of his book De Prseseriptionibus adversus Hcereticos, 
and in other places. The practice of these great per- 
sons, who made use of it themselves, will here serve 
to prove to us that this course is correct and advan- 
tageous. 

Thus you see that the authority of the Fathers is of 

* Irenreus, 1. 3. contr. Use. c. 1, 2, 3, and 4. 
t Id. 3. c. 2. 



AS JUDGES IN POINTS OF RELIGION. 411 

very great use in the Church, and serves as an out- 
work to the Scriptures, for repelling the presumption 
of those who would forge a new faith. But inasmuch 
as those who broach new doctrines of their own ima- 
gination, do ordinarily slight the Holy Scriptures as 
those very heretics did, whom Irenoeus confuted; who 
impudently accused them " of not being right, and 
that they are of no authority, and speak in very am- 
biguous terms; and that they are not able to inform 
a man of the truth, unless they are acquainted with 
tradition, the truth having been delivered (as these 
men pretended) not in writing, but by word of 
mouth;"* — for this reason, I say, as well as others, 
are the writings of the Fathers of very great use in 
these disputes; and I conceive this to be one of the 
principal ends for which Divine Providence has, in 
despite of so many confusions and changes, preserved 
so many of them safe to our times. 

If therefore the Protestants should propose from 
their own imagination, and press as absolutely neces- 
sary to salvation, any positive article which does not 
appear in antiquity, without question this course might, 
with very good reason, be made use of against them. 
But it is most evident that there is no such thing in 
their belief; for they maintain only such things as are 
either expressly delivered in the Scriptures, or else 
are evidently deduced from thence; and such as have 
also been expounded, the greatest part of them, and 
interpreted by the ancients, not in their own private 
writings only, but even in their creeds and synodical 
determinations also. They pretend not either to any 
particular revelation or secret tradition, or any other 
new principle of doctrine. Their faith is founded 

*Cumenim ex Scriptoria arguuntur, in accusationem oonver- 

tuntur ipsarum Seripturarum, quasi non recte babeant, neque Bint 

. et quia varie >int diets, et quia non possit ex bis Ln- 

vciiii-i Veritas, ab hie qui nescianl traditionem. Non enim per lit- 

tents traditam illam, Bed per mam rooem. — Iren. I '•'>. & -'. 



412 THE FATHERS ARE NOT ACKNOWLEDGED 

only upon the most ancient, and most authentic instru- 
ment of Christianity, the Bible. Only in their exposi- 
tions either of the doctrines therein contained, or 
other passages, they produce some few things that are 
not at all found in the Fathers. But these things 
being not necessary to salvation, the argument which 
is brought from the silence of the Fathers herein, is 
not sufficient to prove the falsity of them ; time, expe- 
rience, the assistance of others, and the very errors 
also of the Fathers, having (as they say) now laid 
that open to them, which was heretofore more diffi- 
cult and hard to be discovered, and noticed of Divine 
Revelation. Who knows not that a dwarf, mounted 
upon a giant's shoulders, looks higher and sees further 
than the giant himself? It would be ridiculous in any 
man to conclude, that what the dwarf discovers is not 
in nature, because in that case the giant must also 
have seen it. Neither would he be much wiser, that 
should accuse the dwarf of presumption, because, for- 
sooth he has told us that of which the giant said not 
a word : seeing that it is the giant to whom "the dwarf 
is beholden for the greatest part of his knowledge. 
This is our case, say the Protestants: we are mount- 
ed upon the shoulders of that great and high giant, 
Antiquity. That advantage which we have above it 
by its means, enables us to see many things in Divine 
Revelation which it did not see. Yet this cannot 
be any ground for presumption in us, because we see 
more than it did; forasmuch as it is this very an- 
tiquity to which we owe a great part of this our 
knowledge. 

It is therefore certainly clear, that as for the Pro- 
testants, and what concerns the positive points of 
their faith, they are wholly without the compass of 
the dispute. And as for those of the Church of Rome, 
they cannot, for the reasons before given, make any 
advantage of the testimony of the ancients, for the 
proving of any of those points of doctrine which they 



AS JUDGES IN POINTS OF RELIGION. 413 

maintain, save only of those wherein their adversaries 
agree with them: and therefore, if they would have 
us come over to their belief, they must necessarily 
have recourse to some other kinds of proofs. But yet 
I do not see but that we may very well make inquiry 
into antiquity, respecting many articles which are now 
maintained by those of the Church of Rome : and if 
we find that the ancients have not said anything of 
the same, we may then positively conclude, that they 
are not to be accounted as any part of the Christian 
religion. 

I confess, that there are some articles against which 
this argument is of no force; as those which they do 
not account necessary to salvation, and which the 
ancients heretofore might have been, and we also at 
this day may be, ignorant of. But certainly this ar- 
gument, in my judgment, would be utterly unan- 
swerable against such points as they press as neces- 
sary, and whereon indeed they would have our salva- 
tion wholly to depend ; as, for example, the supreme 
authority of the Pope and of the Church, which owns 
him as its head ; the adoration of the holy sacrament 
of the eucharist, the sacrifice of the mass, the neces- 
sity of aricular confession, and the like. For if they 
are of such great importance, as they would make us 
believe, it would be a point of high impiety to say 
that the Fathers knew nothing of them : in the same 
manner as it would be a most absurd thing to main- 
tain, that though they did know them, they would 
not yet speak one word of them, in all those books 
which we have of theirs at this day. And if they had 
said anything at all of them in their writings, we 
have no reason in the world to suspect, that possibly 
those passages where mention was made of them, may 
have been erased, or corrupted and altered, by false 
hands: seeing that this piece of knavery would have 
been done to the disadvantage of those who had these 
books in their custody. 



414 TIIE FATHERS ARE NOT ACKNOWLEDGED 

We have rather very good reason to suspect, that 
■whatever alterations there are, they have been made 
in favour of the Church of Rome; as we have proved 
before in the first book. If therefore, after so long a 
time, and after so many indexes as they of the Church 
of Rome have put forth, and so great a desire as they 
have had to find these doctrines of theirs in the wri- 
tings of the Fathers, and the little conscience that 
they have sometimes made of foisting into the writ- 
ings of the Fathers what they could not find there ; 
we can still make it appear, that they are not to be 
found there at all — after all this, I say who can pos- 
sibly doubt but that the Fathers were ignorant of 
them ? Who will ever be persuaded to believe, that 
they held them necessary to salvation? And if they 
were not known to be such then, how can any body 
imagine that they should come to be such now ? 

In conclusion, my opinion is, that although the 
authority of the Fathers be not sufficient to prove the 
truth of those articles which are now maintained by 
the Church of Rome against the Protestants, even 
though the ancients believed the same, it may, not- 
withstanding, serve to prove the falsity of them, in 
case we should find by the Fathers that the ancients 
were wholly ignorant of them, or at least acknow- 
ledged them not for such, as they would now have 
us believe them to be: which is a business that so 
nearly concerns the Protestants, that, to be able to 
bring about their design, I conceive they ought to 
employ a good part of their time in reading over the 
books of the ancients. Only it is requisite that each 
party, when they undertake so tedious and so impor- 
tant a business as this, should come well provided 
with all necessary qualifications, as a knowledge of 
the languages, and of history, and should also be well 
read in the Scriptures ; and that they use herein their 
utmost diligence and attention, and withal read over 
exactly whatsoever we have left us of the Fathers, 



AS JUDGES IN POINTS OF RELIGION. 415 

not omitting anything that they can obtain; because 
a little short passage many times gives a man very 
much light in elucidating their meaning: and not 
think (as some, who much deceive themselves do) 
that they perfectly know what the sense and belief 
of the ancients was, because perhaps they have spent 
four or five months in reading them over. But above 
all, it is necessary that they come to this business free 
from all partiality and prejudice, which is indeed the 
greatest and the most general cause of that obscurity 
which is found in the writings of the Fathers, whilst 
every one endeavours to make them speak to his 
sense; whereas in the greatest part of these points of 
religion, which are now controverted amongst us, 
these ancient authors really believed much less than 
the one party does, and some little more than the 
other does: and there are but a very few points of all 
this number, wherein they are fully and absolutely 
of the same opinion with either of the two parties. 
Neither is it sufficient in this business to take notice 
of such testimonies as either positively affirm or deny 
those things which we are searching after, because, 
however clear they may perhaps be, it can scarcely 
be conceived but that a quick wit will find something 
to darken the sense of them: as you may observe in 
all books of controversy; where you shall have them 
so baffle and make nothing of such testimonies as are 
brought against them out of the ancients, that you 
would hardly know what opinion to form. 

You must also observe what are the necessary con- 
sequences of each particular article: it being impossi- 
ble to conclude upon any one point of any importance, 
but that there will presently follow upon it divers 
consequences, as well within as without the Church. 
As for example, you are to consider what the conse- 
quences are of the tr an substantiation of the euchar- 
ist, as now held by the Church of Rome; of purga- 
tory; and of the monarchical authority of the Pope: 



416 THE FATHERS ARE NOT ACKNOWLEDGED, ETC, 

and when you have observed them well, you are 
then to mark, in reading the books of the ancients, 
whether they appear there in whole or in part. For 
if you find them not there at all, it is a most certain 
argument, that the doctrine from whence they pro- 
ceed did, not then exist. 

I shall not, however, proceed any further in this 
discourse, since various others have already treated 
hereof at large; it being, in my judgment, no difficult 
matter to conclude, from what we have here delivered, 
how we ought to read the Fathers. 



THE END. 






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